30 Days of Night - Torchwood Style
by Awatere11
Summary: A favorate not just because it was filmed here in NZ. Bloodthursty and vicious, not for the fainthearted. This one is brutal. I have taken liberties as there was no Owen charactor and we need an Owen. only read of you dare! some years ago there was a happening and each year for a month a town is plunged into darkness. Torchwood waits for explaination yearly. ALT VERSE... SCARY!
1. Chapter 1

TWO DAYS AGO. Snowstorm. A single man in a rowboat - the STRANGER - forges through the icy waters toward the coast. It's hard to say how old he is - 20s, 40s? - because he's so filthy and red-eyed and yet so fiercely driven. In shadows behind him stands the eerie, forbidding ship which brought him this far. Hitting the edge of the ice, the Stranger clambers out of his boat and trudges inland, smiling thinly as he sees the boat drift away, no use to him anymore

We follow the Stranger through the wide, eerie twilight of the Wales wilderness - blasted by the wind yet persevering, too yearning and wild-eyed to slow down -As he crests a small ridge of ice, we see a clutch of lights shimmering in the distance: STEDMAN, WALES. An ancient outpost of a town, an oil and mining outpost ringed with derricks and tundra. The Stranger grins as he sees Stedman twinkling through the snowstorm, and presses onward.

A man stands, back to the setting sun, his face cloaked in shadows - until he turns thoughtfully, the light gradually revealing a handsome and soulful gaze. He is Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood watching the local town's Police Officer Billy Cruise, earnest, 40s, wearing a badge and shining a flashlight into a snow bank west of Stedman "Weird!"

"Ain't it? Who'd do a thing like this?" Billy frowns. A their feet is a smouldering, eerie hole in the snow - filled with burned Cell and Satellite Phones -Jack kneels down to examine the fire pit, baffled as Billy continues

"Someone got a little upset about roaming charges?" Owen asks as he looks over at them from where he is pissing in the snow with open glee.

"Stealing satellite phones would make sense, you could hock them, maybe run up charges on someone's account. But burning them?" Jack rises from his crouch to look in the direction of the town.

"Kids? Pulling some prank?" Billy surmises.

"There'd be a message. "Fuck you" to their parents or the world or whoever." Owen answers as Jack walks up toward the summit, thoughtfully

After considering for a moment Jack turns to face them "Best place to solve this is the Diner, Billy. Get people talking, they'll gossip and figure it out for us."

Billy watches as Jack keeps hiking toward the crest. The last golden arc of the sun gleams, silhouetting Jack, as Owen comes to join him.

Owen stands studying his friend "You okay?"

Jack stares out at the sun quietly, wistfully "Yeah, I only -(a beat) Last sunset for a month, some years it's easier to take, y'know?"

Jack turns, not ready to say more, and Owen knows better than to ask. Shoving his feelings down deep, Jack hikes back toward the SUV waiting at the bottom of the slope. The Doctor had fucked up, plain and simple. He had misjudged something and now the Earth turned in a strange dance, Wales suffering a darkness that was once Alaska's. Whatever it was … or whoever it was that now stalked the earth, he knew they were finally coming his way and his only comfort was that Ianto was not here to see this.

At least he had the sense to leave Jack months ago.

I mean … Torchwood.

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The residential side of Stedman. Homes are built on stilts to avoid the stresses of ice and critters in their foundations. All the homes have crawlspaces underneath, of varying sizes. Four huskies are barking from behind the fence of the Rhodes residence - dogs deeply unhappy about something - A shadow passes - the dogs follow the shadow angrily - until suddenly there is a gleaming flash and hiss of a blade - the sickening slice of a knife into flesh, and the barks are replaced by horrifying whines of pain.

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Jack's SUV is moving at the edge of town, Jack and Owen pull over beside a huge snowplough swerved crookedly onto the shoulder. The back is covered with a tarp; a stream of oil drips from the truck bed. Working under the open hood is Lew Jaimson, late 50s, thick bearded, an ox of a man with the social skills to match. Billy has stopped and is getting out of his prowler, Jack rolls down his window to listen.

"Little problem?" Billy calls out.

Lew snarls with not a single glance up "Nothin' I can't handle my own fuckin' self."

Billy gets out of his SUV, circles the vehicle, pulls a leaking gas can from under the tarp. "This for generators?"

"Mostly."

"I can't have it leaking all over the roads, Lew. I'll have to cite you for that." He pulls out a citation book, scribbles away as Lew rants.-

You don't HAVETA cite me. You don't have to do anything. That's why we live up here, innit? So we gotta little freedom?" Lew roars "Why don't you run on home so you can cuddle with that cute wifey of yours? One of us oughta get laid tonight, at least …"

Billy rips a ticket blithely, tucks it in Lew's parka "Happy motoring"

"I'll add this to my collection."

Jack climbs back in the SUV and starts the engine then leans out the window to call out to Lew "Lew's not so bad. Why do you bother writing him up?"

"He lives all by himself in that cabin on the south ridge, y'know? A little citation now and then reminds Lew he's part of this town." Billy grins "He's right, though"

"About what?" Owen asks.

"You should split from me now coz I will head home. The wife always likes the first night of the Dark"

Jack gently smirks as the man's radio blares with the voice of his elderly dispatcher, Helen "Billy, come in, Billy."

"Roger, Helen"

"You better get over to John Rhodes'… something bad's happened to his dogs"

Jack glances at Owen, puzzled and concerned"

"What the hell?" Billy mutters, grimacing up at Jack who is still watching him silently. "This what you are here for?"

"Soon find out" Jack calls back as he motions for Billy to lead the way.


	2. Chapter 2

2

Tom Milles, teens, sturdy, kisses his girlfriend goodbye "See you in the light, baby - I'll be good while you're gone, I promise"

Tom and his girlfriend are walking through the town's main drag, still warm in the ebbing light of magic hour. Simple white lights, all the town can afford, spark to life, giving Stedman a naive romance. Townsfolk mill about, celebrating like it's New Year's Eve. Honking horns, hugging and kissing. This has been happening for three years now, becoming something of amusement now the fear has worn off and the media have dissipated. No one knows why, this sudden 30 day darkness once a year but they have decided to embrace it.

Doug Horrace, late 30s, brawny and well fed, kisses His wife "It's okay, sweetie, I know you can't take a month with no sun - I promise I won't live on Oreos and Snapple"

Kirsten Toomey, lean, 20, hands suitcases to her father Peter, 40s, as he loads up his car for the airport "wish you'd come with me, Kirsten. I hate this place in December. Nothing here but twenty-eight miles of road, and all of them dead-end."

She hugs him goodbye "I'm gonna get all caught up, Dad, the taxes, January's orders, don't worry! Have fun in London!"

Charlie Karrington, 40s, Hammers the last planks to board up his house, a successful oil worker's home with an ornamental row of glass bricks in the facade. An impatient Mrs. Karrington and their two sons load luggage into their Range Rover.

"Charlie, do you want to make it to Maui or not?" Her voice is such that Charlie's not altogether sure about Maui, but he finishes hammering nonetheless.

Ianto Jones, powering along in a bright red SUV and a look of determination. Coming from the left at a desolate intersection is a large Ditch Driller an enormous rumbling truck with treads instead of tires, and a manoeuvrable roaring chainsaw mounted on its nose. The ditch driller should stop at a STOP SIGN - But to Ianto's shock, the ditch driller doesn't stop, imbedding its chainsaw in one of Ianto's front tires and fishtailing Ianto's SUV to a full stop.

Ianto emerges from his SUV, livid "Goddamn it, Malekai! Don't you know what a stop sign means?"

Climbing out of the cab is Malekai Hann, 30s, abashed. He squints into the snow flurry and recognises the man who has come on previous Blacks with the team already here this time and he relaxes. He knows this one, the one who actually knows how to speak Welsh "I'm sorry, Ianto, the brakes jammed"

Mute with anger, Ianto inspects both his own useless vehicle and the ditch driller. Malekai explains "The boss wanted this back from the airport before the storm hits, I was just trying to …"

Ianto doesn't have time for Malekai's sputtering guilt; he pops the trunk on his SUV and pulls out his carryon bag, looking at the snowy, isolated expanse around them. Ianto gives up and pulls out his cell phone.

Jack's dropping Owen off, when his cell phone rings. He sees "IANTO" on the display, clicks on warily.

"It's me. Tosh called me and … SIGH…" Ianto, anxious next to a sheepish Malekai, not looking forward to this call "Surprise. I need a ride to the hotel."

"Wait - what? You're in town - ?" Jack gapes at the phone then puts it back to his ear as Owen climbs back into the passenger seat to listen.

"You want to talk, we can do it on the drive" Ianto answers softly "Just …. We are running out of daylight. You know ….the darkness thing? "

Maybe Jack doesn't want to talk if this is how he's gonna be. He covers the cell phone, checks his watch. He turns to Owen "Ianto's at Ransom and 355, can you get him to town?"

Owen signals thumbs up, hikes off quickly towards a snow cat, as Jack calmly gets back on the cell "Listen, John Rhodes called something in I want to check out so Owen's on his way. You let me know if a day comes when you wanna talk about something other than the Black."

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Ianto examines the damage to his car - not pleased. He checks his watch. Even less pleased. Where is Owen? Malekai whines a bit in his own phone "yeah, Mom, Ianto asked the same thing, could you just give me a tow?"

Ianto glances at the damaged car again, decides to take a look at the ditch driller while Malekai haplessly loads all his junk out of the vehicle. He kneels by the tires, inspects the brakes as a rumbling noise grows near and frowns. Owens voice suddenly calls out "Your limo's here, Mr. Jones!"

Ianto jumps up thankfully, grabs his carryon and boards snowcat "Where've you been?!"

"The keys weren't where I thought, and then I was like, wait, Rogers and 355, or Ransom? And then when I …" Owen flapped a hand distractedly.

"Never mind, let's go" Fully dark now. Ianto checks his watch, practically writhing with anxiousness.

"You wanna know how Jack's been doin'?"

A beat then Ianto sighs "You're gonna tell me whether I ask you or not, right?"

Owen smiles lopsidedly

"Just drive, okay?"

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Three oil workers, 20s, wobble past the pipeline. Aaron with a half-empty Jack Daniels and Gabe eye Denise hopefully; while she's no starlet, to them she's Catherine Zeta-Jones. She warns "Look, my landlady doesn't want pipeline workers keepin' her up"

Denise is right, let's head over to my place …" Gabe slurs

Playfully Denise giggles "Neither of you are getting me alone"

"Then we'll share! Right? None of us have to be greedy"

They all laugh, none of them sure where this might be heading but willing to see - as Billy pulls up beside them. "Hey, Aaron - you know there's no drinking till the sun's back up."

They shift, embarrassed to be busted, as Gabe takes the bottle from Aaron and hands it to Billy "We don't need it, Billy. We can get drunk on Denise's home brew and charm."

I won't write you guys up tonight - just don't give me another reason till New Year's, okay?"

"Yes sir - we'll be good"

The party walks away with Denise laughing.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Parties are over now, the streets quiet. Steam still rises from the snow where Riis's dogs died. James Rhodes, 40s, and wife Ally, 30s, wiry and athletic, mourn with Billy "What sick jerk would DO this? Every kennel - every dog we had."

"Fight with anybody lately, James?"

shaking his head he replies "Somebody always freaks out a little once the sun's gone, but it usually takes two or three weeks."

"I'll kill them." Ally hisses "I'll kill them."

Jack is examining the scene "This wasn't done long enough ago that you could get to the airport after. Whoever did this - is still in town."

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Stephen, 13, plays Risk against himself, moving from one side of the board to the other. Bright, pale, he's like the love child of David Bowie and Elvis Costello. As he plays "It'd be easier if you played, Mama."

Across the room, Alice, late 40s, sits at the radio console. She doesn't like you to know that she's fighting cancer; a positive attitude is one of her weapons against it. "I don't really care for games like that, if you want to know the truth. Don't you learn a lot when you play against yourself?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Playing yourself is the ultimate blahdy-blah-blah"

Alice nods toward the entering Jack, laboriously sheds his winter gear "Try your Uncle!"

Jack appraises the game board "The Classic Game of Global Domination. I'm a little jammed today"

Alice hands Billy some reports "While you were busy with James? Carter and Wilson called about a vandalism problem at the Utilidor"

Billy sighs, laboriously puts everything back on – as Jack nods and reaches for his own. He is secretly pleased to escape, finding his daughter had moved here had been unsettling, even more so as she pretends everything was fine. Seems she likes it here and doesn't want him to fuck it up.

Fine with him.

It's almost like she is pushing everyone away.

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THE UTILIDOR SEWAGE PLANT sits on the edge of town: a Pump House and Two towering storage tanks. From the pump house comes Carter Davies, 50s, Santa Claus build, in a Tourism Bureau T-shirt depicting a license plate reading "WALES B4UDIE." He calls to the burly Jayko Twins, Paul and Xavier (both 36), cleaning a large sewerage pipe some distance away "Guys, you can't get that pipe fixed tonight. Seal it off from the town and come back tomorrow"

The twins nod and seal off the pipe; Jack walks from his SUV as Billy calls out "Lord, Carter. It's gotta be ten below."

Wilson Bulosan joins Carter in the doorway, his down vest reading "BLACK RIDGE TOURS." Filipino, early 30s, normally gregarious but now troubled, he gestures inside "You need to see this, Bill."

Jack follows Billy, Carter and Wilson through the pump house, where Carter monitors the sewage system. His control panel is adorned with knickknacks and photos, especially a photo of Carter with his wife and four kids. Jack examines it "Can't your wife send you a sweater or two? And bring the whole tribe back here while she's at it. "

Carter shrugs diffidently "They'll come when they're ready, I guess"

Billy gives gentle advice "A family oughta be together, Carter "

Jack grimaces as it hits close to the bone. Carter nods in quiet resignation, acknowledging his friend but changing the subject "So I've found all kindsa garbage here over the years. Blue jeans, bikes. Sometimes I can yank 'em out before the Muffin Monster chews 'em to shit…"

"The Muffin Monster?" Jack interrupts.

"My little nickname for it" arter calls back with a grin as he gestures. Jack, Billy, Carter and Wilson stand before a High-Torque, Four-Shaft Shredder, a device that can literally turn steel drums into confetti. This is the Muffin Monster, where all the pipes lead, disposing of Stedman's garbage and sewage. The razor-edged shafts spin steadily. Carter pulls up a trashcan –"Saw Wilson's logo, pulled this stuff out before it got totally shredded"

Wilson angrily shows Jack a pile of chewed-up debris - seat belts, fragments of passenger seats, dashboard controls - a couple of which bear the "BLACK RIDGE TOURS" logo

Jack frowns "You keep your copter under lock and key, don't you, Wilson?"

"Yep, I put it in drydock when the tourists headed south. Haven't looked at it for days."

Jack examines the damage "Could you fix it up if you needed to?"

"Not without parts from London. This is my living, Jack. Why would someone rip the hell out of my bird?" Wilson takes some of the debris and angrily tosses it into the Muffin Monster - which chews it all up with startling speed.

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An impressive Satellite Dish Tower at the north end of town. Bristling with antennae and cell receivers. The product of big time oil money. The Trans-Wales Pipeline runs past the base of the tower, beyond the barbed fence -It's starting to snow, the white flecks swirling about in the darkness.

A face flashes and is gone before we can be sure we saw it at all.

Gus Lambert, late 60s, portly, sits at a control panel, whistles an old swing band tune to himself –somewhere outside is a distant ethereal howl, arcing up the top of the scale -Gus stops; he's never heard anything like that before. Still, he'd ignore it until there's an electronic sizzle – half the dials on the control panel blink out. Gus grabs his parka, buttons up, and heads for the door.

Snow falls.

Gus opens the door, walks out into the dark, shivering as his breath clouds around him.

Behind him: THE CRUNCH OF A FOOTFALL IN SNOW.

He whirls, shining his flashlight everywhere in the eerie silence, but sees nothing -Gus pushes forward into the darkness, as a SHAPE FLASHES BEHIND HIM, unseen by us - he spins again as there's ANOTHER CRUNCH in the snow. He exploring for the source of the sound, but there's still nothing. He's tensing, realizing he doesn't want to be out here, heading back for the building -When he comes across several lines of footprints crossing the path back to the dish tower -Quivering now, following the footprints with his flashlight, Gus comes across a pair of GLEAMING BLACK EYES sizing him up in the darkness -Then they're gone. He sweeps the beam urgently like a searchlight - when a shadow crosses the beam – closer to him this time – and this it's gone. Gus works to catch his breath - what the hell is going on here? Then from right over his shoulder, a low guttural chuckle, harsh and …. Hungry. Gus drops the flashlight and the beam shines into his terrified face. He's surrounded by a group of shadows, figures that loom menacingly toward him

"Who - who are you people - ?!"

WHOOOOM

A SHADOW RIPS A TALONED HAND ACROSS GUS' NECK -Blood arcs through the darkness as Gus staggers backward - and ONE OF THE SHADOWS LUNGES AT GUS. THERE IS A COARSE, SAWING SOUND as Gus's head is wrenched back and forth, the creature SAWING ITS WAY THROUGH GUS'S NECK as they fall - and then we hear Gus's neck SNAP as they hit the ice, and he is rendered nothing but prey.

Silence.


	4. Chapter 4

4

A little neon oasis in the snowfall

The stranger whispers "No whiskey? No rum?"

Lucy Ikos, sturdy, late 60s, stares uncertainly at the tense Stranger sitting at her diner counter. The Stranger will only ever speak in a slimy, snarky whisper.

"Alcohol's illegal this month - folks have a hard enough time in the dark without booze making it worse" she informs him.

"Forget the liquor, Lucy. Bring me a bowl of raw hamburger."

"You can only get meat two ways around here - frozen and burnt."

"You don't give me what I want to eat. What I want to drink." He runs a nail across her cheek threateningly.

Jack claps a hand on the Stranger's shoulder "That's enough, pal. Leave the woman be, time to hit the road."

The Stranger rises, out to intimidate - he's a bit taller than Jack, but Jack stands his ground without a flinch –"What's wrong with a man wanting a little fresh meat?"

Jack is glad the girls are both back in Cardiff at the Hub where they are warm and safe. Shit gets real fast out here. "If you refuse to leave, I'll escort you out of here myself"

The stranger looms over Jack "I'd like to see that."

A gun barrel presses against the back of the Stranger's head; IANTO IS HERE, with Owen behind him, as Ianto pulls back the hammer on his weapon –"I would too - but then Lucy'd have to clean up after Jack kicked your ass, it's more trouble than you're worth."

As Billy takes out cuffs for the Stranger, he takes in Ianto's presence - too cool to react, but his energy noticeably different as he looks to Ianto's gun with a raised eyebrow

"Owen could've helped me here" Jack points out feebly, a soft smile as he glances at the medic still watching Ianto with wide eyes.

Owen gives an affable shrug "Yeah, but, well, Jack, it's Ianto."

Jack nods; Owen has a point. He tries to keep things diplomatic with Ianto "Missed me?"

Ianto shoots a look at Owen, then looks to Jack as Billy leads the cuffed Stranger out "Maybe I'll come along - say hi to Stephen and Alice - ?"

Jack's got mixed feelings about it, can't figure out a reason to say yes, can't figure out a reason to say no. Owen shrugs and settles to get a drink of coffee, he would rather sit this one out.

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Jack drives while Ianto rides shotgun, with the Stranger cuffed and seething in the back with Billy. They are silent for several moments, neither of them ready for small talk. Finally "suddenly there's more vandalism here than in the last three years"

Silence.

Finally Ianto snaps "Don't you know how to take care of this town without me?"

It's one of those jokes that hit so wrong; Jack's answer could take a day and a half. Jack sees this is his little slice of paradise, comes here for the darkness every year because it reminds him of home. Well … it did when Ianto was here too. Guess nothing lasts forever. UNIT saw to that. Well … and Jack. Go on then. And Jack.

Finally Ianto gets to why he really came along.

Ianto glances at Jack "Look, I didn't want to mention it in public, but I think somebody screwed with the brakes on the ditch driller"

Silence.

Finally Jack huffs "Hell of a day."

"Just wait." The stranger giggles.

Jack silences the Stranger with a glare, shoots a glance to Ianto: let's not talk now, for God's sake.

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Cell bars slam in the Stranger's face as Jack locks him up and questions him, Stephen watching warily as Jack asks "You don't work at the refinery. You'd have been seen flying in. When'd you get here?"

The Stranger smirks, raising an eyebrow: do they know?

Suddenly Alice bangs at her monitor "Oh, criminy! Computer's down."

Billy huffs "I'll call Gus -(lifting the phone) Phone's dead, too."

Billy slamms the receiver down in frustration as the Stranger whispers 'Captain and his …. Boy? So sweet. So helpless against what's coming."

Stephen pulls into a corner, freaked out. Ianto reassures him "He's just trying to get our blood up."

"It's working." Stephen whispers.

"We've got better things to worry about." Jack turns to look back at Ianto "I'll check on Gus."

"Check on Gus. Board the windows. Try to hide. They're coming and this time they'll take me with them, honour me for all I've done - !" the stranger crows.

"Who are 'they?' then?" Jack asks. The Stranger stares steadily at Jack, not giving an inch. Stephen tries to focus on his game.

Behind him through the window a dead white face appears for a flash, then it's gone, just as Stephen turns, sensing it –lights go out - throwing the room into darkness. The Stranger whispers again, surer and surer of himself "Board the windows - try to hide"

Amidst the snowfall, the twinkling streetlights blink out. Stephen opens the front door in the darkness, ready to head out "I'll hit the generator"

Jack nods, ransacks a drawer in Alice's desk "Take a flash - here –"

"I'll get them" Alice looks annoyed but before Alice can intercede, Jack lifts up a flashlight and shines it on a plastic bag filled with pot. He's baffled "What the hell is this?"

Stephen blinks like Jack has gone insane "Pot. It helps with her cancer. She's got a little greenhouse at home."

Alice snorts lightly "Didn't tell you, didn't want you to worry about me."

Jack shakes his head, perplexed as he learns his daughter has a terminal illness and didn't even care to tell him, then he realises it's her life, her choice. He was clearly a shit father in her eyes.

Fine.

Jack hands a second flashlight to Ianto as he looks back to Stephen "Now I get why you moved into Alice's spare room"

The boy protests too much "Noooo, I just thought you and Ianto oughta have privacy "

"Yeah, that's worked out real well." Jack sighed, then turned to leave "I'm heading for the cell tower."

Stephen glances off the Stranger's grin "We have to stay here with him?"

Ianto is a good pal for Stephen "Sure, we can sit here and mock him."

Stephen beams appreciatively - we can see he's glad to have Ianto back around. Jack notes it, too, but he's too focused on his yellow alert to respond.

"Alice, as soon as the lines are up, get Owen over here. Stay on the walkie-talkie with me till the power's back"

Alice nods, as the Stranger grins in expectation.


	5. Chapter 5

5

Snowfall.

Jack emerges warily from the SUV, flashlight and pistol ready. He rounds a corner and stops, pale -The chain-link fence is down, twisted and bent in the snow. Jack pulls his weapon, tensing "GUS - ?!"

Silence.

He presses forward, seeing the satellite dish pulled down, broken - the antennas bent and snapped, wires sparking. "What the hell - ?"

Jack continues to search. His flashlight finds a trail of frozen blood in the snow, red and glossy. Following the trail, Jack finds Gus' body, decapitated and twisted in a tangle of wires and bent steel. Continuing the sweep with the light Jack sees a pole stuck in the ice with a head stuck on the tope like a pike. Gus, wide-eyed in painful death.

Fighting not to vomit, Jack shines the flash everywhere, but he is alone. His breath is heavy, Audible in the ominous silence. He clicks his walkie-talkie "Come in, come in, Alice"

"Roger, Jack. What happened there?"

Jack's mind is racing is he replies "We're being cut off."

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Snowfall.

As he drives, Jack's voice blasts over a loud speaker "This is not a drill! Stay in your homes! Lock your doors! Load your firearms! I repeat, Stedman is under curfew - !"

He slows as the SUV is approached by a small clutch of worried residents - the Jayko twins and the Robins family – Frank, Michelle, teenage Larry and seven-year-old Gail. Jack rolls down his window, working for a voice of solid and calm authority even as his own pulse is racing "Frank, Michelle, you got your generator running? Tell anyone without a jenny, meet at the Diner, stay with Lucy, she'll have heat and power there. Don't anyone wander off alone. Get inside, don't let in anyone you don't know. And if you've got guns - load 'em."

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James Rhodes, mourning, powers up his home generator as he hears Jack outside "Lock your doors! Load your firearms"

Jack's vice fades away and the lights flicker to life as James pulls out his shotgun. Ally calls to the next room, lighting candles for suppertime.

"Let's have dinner, James - please? It'll take our minds off …" She sits, closes her eyes a moment, still hurt by the loss of her dogs. Then she opens her eyes, resolving to move ahead -SMAAASSSSHH!

THE WINDOW SHATTERS AND A DARK FIGURE HURTLES INTO THE ROOM.

Hidden for a moment behind the table. Ally freezes in panic: what the hell is she alone with - ?! Hearing the SMASH, James takes his gun and runs to Ally - seeing Ally SCREAMING, PULLED OUT THROUGH THE WINDOW - !

Panicked, Rhodes emerges from the house and pumps his shotgun, looks this way and that, squinting his way through the snowfall - where is her scream coming from? He searches the ground for tracks, but the snow's already filling in his own footsteps. He circles about, more and more anxious - and loses his breath as he sees there's still a faint trail leading to the crawlspace beneath the house -He kneels, points his gun under the house - and something grabs him, tears a livid slash across his face. He empties both barrels into the figure only to gasp as the shotgun is torn from his hads, tossed away and lost in a snowbank -He drops to the ground, hissing in pain and blinded by the snow, clutching his right leg - the calf has been broken -Rhodes clears his eyes, drags himself crying in pain toward Ally.

She's screaming still, fighting like a banshee against a shadowy figure. Rhodes lunges for her, grabs her hand – "ALLY - !"

But the creature easily drags her away - Rhodes tries to hang on, which pulls him underneath the house himself until he can no longer maintain his grip -As Ally vanishes in the dark, screaming "JOHHHHHHHN - !

Rhodes watches her vanish in the distance underneath the neighbours' houses. His eyes are full of loss and pain.

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Aaron and Gabe face off as Denise watches, laughing as Aaron splutters "All right! Rock, paper, scissors, whoever wins, we go to his place"

"C'mon, let's DO this and get moving" Denise argues. The guys wind up - one, two - Aaron produces a rock, Gabe flashes his fingers open like a little explosion "Nuclear explosion, it burns up rock, paper AND scissors, I win"

"Talk about desperate" Denise laughs.

"Okay, we'll do it the boring way" Aaron and Gabe face off again - one, two - AND SUDDENLY GABE IS GONE, WHIPPED AWAY INTO THE DARKNESS WITH A CRY.

"Gabe …?!" Aaron stares for a moment in sheer shock - Denise, frightened, backs away a couple of steps "GABE …?!"

Aaron's call is interrupted by a gnashing and tearing - a vicious, viscous ripping as Gabe screams a death cry. Denise bolts away - not needing another clue –As Gabe's body is thrown back like a rag doll, his throat torn out. He keeps convulsing because he hasn't figured out he's dead -Aaron's paralyzed between staying to fight and running - AS TWO SHADOWS LOOM UP BEHIND HIM.

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..

Weak lights from the generator. Stephen plays Risk; Ianto and Alice have reluctantly joined in the game.

No way out of town. Nobody to come help. Who'll go first, I wonder?" the stranger sing-songed.

Stephen shouts "SHUT UP."

"Ignore him, Stephen." Alice warns as she glances at Ianto.

"Which of you'll they take first? The man who thinks a gun'll help her? The kid? Or the sick gal?"

"SHUT UP!"

Stephen loses it, throws a game token at the Stranger, who picks it up, gloating "Thanks for the plastic. I can snap this apart, use it to pick the lock"

The Stranger's doing no such thing - he's just idly playing with the token, teasing Stephen and leading him on but Stephen falls for it "No, you won't"

"Stephen, he can't - !" Before Ianto can stop him, Stephen heads for the cell unprepared as the stranger seized Stephen and pulls him tight against the cell bars. Stephen gasps with pain, trying to call out but unable to get his breath as the Stranger slowly strangles him, "The keys. Now."

Ianto seethes, hating this deal but having no choice. As Alice trembles, Ianto picks up Stephen's dropped flashlight and reaches for the keys as Stephen gasps with increased pain and the stranger urges "Better hurry -The keys"

Ianto reaches for the lock, opening the door and the stranger demands "Now back away"

As Stephen's eyes bulge, Ianto steps back, seething and waiting for some window to act. The Stranger moves an arm around the cell door, ready to swing Stephen around as a shield -Just as Jack fires his Webley through the window of the front door - the Stranger drops to the floor as Jack enters -Stephen falls as well, with Alice embracing him "Stephen - !"

Jack takes the keys from Ianto, opens the cell and stands over the prone form of the Stranger, soberly absorbing what he's done. He looks to Alice, concerned for her "Do you need to go home? Take Stephen with you?"

Alice is not sure yet "what happened with Gus?"

Searching for the words Jack finally says "Someone - took him apart. (nods toward the Stranger) The same day this loon shows up."

Jack checks the magazine in his pistol, as Ianto paces restlessly, ready for action and Jack continues to speak "If everyone followed curfew, his friends won't have many places to hide. I'll find Owen, then work our way from South Street toward the pipeline"

"I'll join you, too" Ianto reaches for his jacket.

"thanks, but -I can handle it."

"Think Billy can help? He's already hiding!" Ianto huffs "Right now, you, me and Owen are the authorities. Be stupid not to take more help. Whatever your faults, you're not stupid. "

Jack knows he's right, not going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging it. He looks to Alice.

"We've got the walkie-talkies, we'll be fine." Alice assures him and Jack keeps watching her "We'll be fine."

Jack nods in appreciation to Alice, turns curtly to Ianto "You drive, I'm riding shotgun."

Ianto swallows his temptation to talk back.

Ianto drives through empty, dark streets, glancing now and then at Jack, careful not to let him see him doing so. When he focuses on the road, Jack glances back at him, also not giving any ground. But when he returns his gaze to the road, peering through the snow, he suddenly lifts his gun "Stop the SUV."

"What?"

"STOP THE FUCKING SUV."

He brakes quickly, senses on high alert, knowing where Jack's tone comes from. They step out, searching down the street, but there's nothing visible in the snowy haze "I know I saw something"

Ianto knows Jack too well to doubt him "Night goggles still in the back?"

Jack nods curtly, still staring dead ahead, straining his eyes through the blackness. Ianto reaches in the back of the truck, retrieves the goggles, takes a look down the road. The dark snowy landscape washed in green - and deep within in - SHADOWS MOVING, COMING RIGHT AT THEM -Ianto jumps "Get in the truck."

"What?"

"GET IN THE FUCKING TRUCK."

This time it's Jack who knows Ianto too well to doubt. They clamber in, Ianto turning the ignition and skidding off down the road in the opposite direction Jack stares backward - we don't see what he sees, but it's deeply unsettling him "How many of them ARE there - ?"

WHOMP!

Something HITS the roof of the SUV.

Ianto swerves as Jack reaches for his gun -WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! The roof is pounded as massive dents appear above their heads. Jack's window shatters -He reaches out and aims his pistol at the roof, firing -Something tumbles off the roof, a shadow visible to Ianto in his rear-view mirror rolling away in the road behind them as he floors it away. Ianto is breathless as he hisses "What. The Hell. Was that. "


	6. Chapter 6

6

Jack stands in the open door, shotgun cocked, as Ianto drives. They pass a deserted, ransacked HORRACE SPORT & AMMO, and then a quaint church - doors open, lit from inside by a still-running generator, with the decapitated body of the minister lying in the open doorway. Far in the distance - are those gunshots. A Scream.

"Jack - ?!" Ianto is fighting for calm "Where's it coming from? WHERE'S IT COMING FROM?"

They grimace, straining their ears against the storm. Jack picks up the walkie-talkie, clicks it alive "Come in, Alice, take the keys, lock yourself and Stephen in a cell where nobody can…"

Alice's scream interrupts him, crackling over the walkie-talkie. Jack looks to Ianto in shock, doesn't need to say a word as he FLOORS IT, fishtailing the SUV for a moment before getting it under control and driving back to the station.

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The Heddlu quarters. Weak lights from the generator. The door is blasted off its hinges; the windows are shattered and the furniture is tossed around. Jack and Ianto move in, weapons drawn.

"No" Jack cries out with horror. On the floor, Alice's body is twisted and bloody - across the room, her severed head looks over at them sadly. Jack leans back on a desk, short of breath staggered by the shock of losing his daughter.

Ianto fumbles for his inhaler and gives himself a blast then looks around "STEPHEN - ?! STEPHEN!"

They sweep the station: no sign of Stephen. They appraise the room, wheels turning. The Stranger's corpse lies exactly as they left it in the cell, untouched. They look back on the station from inside the cell - the door's open, but still they feel trapped. Ianto whispers "Could Stephen have gotten away?"

Jack walks to the open doorway, seething at how his town's spiralling out of control "We'll find out."

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Ianto drives them off into the barren streets with their alarm lights flashing as down the street from them - figures gather in a desolate intersection, watching. When we can catch a glimpse of them through the shadows, they are gaunt, dead-pale, of varying heights and ages from young to seasoned to ancient. Their breath does not cloud in the cold. They wear blacks, greys and browns, their clothing old and worn, most of it scavenged from the dead. Their eyes are entirely black, diamond-hard and shiny so that the snow sometimes reflects in them. They walk like humans would - if humans were nothing but muscle and hunger and cruel cunning. Seventeen of them swarm around the alpha leader of the group - Alistair. Mid 30s, feral, ragged, relentless. He cracks the frozen blood on his face, lets it fall as he hisses in an ancient, glottal, unrecognizable language we cannot place or understand – A cry of smug triumph as his mate Iris agrees - drawn, ashen, Alistair's personal bootlicker, -Iris is not as tall as Alistair, but more craven and famished, admires the town.

"There's enough feasting here to keep us strong for a year, Alistair"

Alistair looks to the town, coldly dispassionate. "We should've done this ages ago."

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The Diner. Warmed and lit by a generator, a gathering place for refugees. Owen is at the doors peering out with his weapon drawn. He steps back as Denise breaks open the doors, breathless from fleeing "What ARE they?"

Wilson Bulosan, in a booth with his father Isaac, 70s, shakes his head simply as he looks to a panicking Doug Horace "We don't know."

Isaac is dazed, from Alzheimer's "Wilson - I want to go home"

Wilson pats his father soothingly as Doug overlaps in a frenzy "You shoot 'em and they keep coming!"

"How's that possible?" Carter asks with wonder.

Doug replies "I, I don't, maybe they're coked up on PCP, something so they don't feel bullets? I only got away because they found Kay Lopez, I couldn't save her! They killed every sled dog in town"

"They took Aaron and Gabe; they're strong guys" Denise whimpers.

Stephen rasps from a corner, huddling, a poster child for PTSD "They took Mama."

Carter starts to list other people "Reverend Pfeiffer, Malekai Hamm - !"

Terrified, Lucy joins in "James and Ally Rhodes, their house is all shattered! Doc Miller's, too!"

Jack and Ianto, framed in the doorway as Jack barks "Kill the lights"

Panicked, Lucy shuts off the lights. Jack walks to his grandson, places a steadying hand on Stephen's shoulder as he looks around, does a tactical assessment of the diner "Has anyone seen Billy - ? (off the group's silence) You can't stay here. All the windows, the open space"

"Who the hell are these people, Jack?" Owen asks.

Doug is hitting hysteria "What do they want?!"

"We'll figure that out after we get all of you someplace safe. Maybe the high school, or the clinic" Jack looks at Owen and nods as Owen looks out into the darkness again, glad of the night vision goggles Jack is thrusting into his hands.

"They already hit the church; they'll scope out any public place." Ianto points out. Jack shoots a quick look at Ianto, surprised to be contradicted even as he knows he's right.

"There's a generator at the Utilidor" Carter calls out.

Jack considers "If we'd headed there when this all started, we might've made it. But it's way out on the edge of town; a group this size, we'd be spotted before we got there. We need someplace close to hide. Now."

They rack their brains. Doug watches them anxiously, sweating in hope that somebody has an answer. Denise finally says "Charlie Karrington's attic. There's a pull down ladder, you can't tell it's there, it'd be tight but we could fit."

Ianto is shaking his head "He would've boarded up his home before he left."

Jack nods but this time HE'S right "Which is why it's a good idea. We can pull down a board to get in, then tack it back"

Jack searches the room. "Owen, lead people close to the buildings, roll under crawlspaces if you hear anything. Go straight to Charlie's attic till I get there."

"Where'll you be?"

"Loading up with all the flares and bear traps an SUV can carry." Jack huffs "SOMETHING's gotta slow 'em down."

Ianto follows him toward the door - their talk now private "I'll cover your back."

Jack can't resist it "Sure you won't run away to UNIT?"

Ianto grimaces, that was a low blow "Cut me a break. We both know what happened there!"

Jack considers, nods grimly; for now they're in a truce. Together they head out, determined.

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.

..

Owen leads Denise, Doug, Lucy, Stephen, Carter, the Bulosans under a house, hissing as they creep forward "Too fast - no sudden moves"

"I'm cold" Stephen whimpers.

"You'll be colder dead." Carter counters. An icicle formed from frozen blood suddenly falls from the edge of a house and smacks to the ground - everyone freezes, losing a day of life. Then they press on.

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Jack and Ianto recon, then hustle into their SUV. Ianto reaches for the keys - a moment of hesitation as they realize that sound may be their enemy as well. The engine is unsettlingly loud as Ianto pulls away. They turn a corner and drive down Ransom Street - when suddenly they're jerked forward in their seats against the steering wheel - the vehicle's come to a dead halt.

"We're not moving" Ianto hisses. It's true. Warily they look behind them. ALISTAIR, IRIS AND OTHER CREATURES HOLD ONTO THE BACK OF THE SUV, LIFTING UP THE REAR TIRES -Ianto FLOORS IT - but he only spins the front wheels in the road, while the rear wheels are lifted higher and higher.

The creatures finally up-end the SUV, turn it on its grille. Falling into the dash, Jack and Ianto reach for firearms -One of the creatures rips Ianto's door open – Ianto fires a shot that clips the creature on the side of the head but while anyone else would be reeling, this creature's only stunned by the shot - its jaws are still open, slavering -Alistair and Iris finish tipping the SUV over - Jack and Ianto are jolted and knocked off-balance -The creatures smash Jack's window - safety glass blinds him as his gun is grabbed and hurled away into the snow "JACKKKK - !"

Jack looks over to see Alistair and Iris dragging Ianto from his side of the SUV, as a gritty roar rises from nowhere -Jack lunges for him desperately, but he's being pulled out his own side of the SUV. Their eyes lock: they're about to die -Until the gritty roar climaxes: a SNOWPLOW careens out of nowhere, slams Ianto's attackers into a brick wall -Owen is behind the wheel. He reaches out, hauls Ianto in. Ianto stretches for his dropped gun, but there's no time Owen roars "Quick, goddamn it!"

Jack's attackers turn toward the snowplow - Jack scrambles and grabs onto the passenger side as Owen FLOORS IT -Jack and Ianto are both still clambering inside the cab as Owen is driving off, he can't linger an extra second for them. As they land beside Owen, Jack and Ianto instinctively look at each other, eyes wide - they've just seen each other nearly killed, and it's hit them each where they live -As the other creatures scramble from the snow, one of Jack's attackers has latched onto the rear bumper and starts to climb toward the front of the snowplow as Owen roars away. Owen turns a corner as Jack slams his door shut at last - but the creature is slowly, hungrily climbing toward the front of the vehicle "Thanks, Owen"

Owen checks the sideview mirrors - all clear. Then he checks his rearview -THE IMAGE OF THE CREATURE'S EYES AND FANGS FILLS THE REARVIEW! Owen freaks for a moment - then WHIPS the snowplow under a low-hanging canopy shearing off the creature as he rounds another corner, not sure he's believing what he's just done

Ianto wheezes, fighting for breath, but with the ROAR of the snowplow, Owen doesn't notice.-Owen SLAMS the truck to a halt, and they scurry from the snowplow and disappear into a crawlspace under a home then continue travelling on foot.

The majority of the buildings dark with only the occasional generator offering light here and there. The streets are littered with overturned cars on fire, dead bodies lie broken and bloody everywhere. Here and there, we see severed heads on posts - and the shadowy creatures stalking the streets. It's hell erupting on earth.

Jack leads Owen and Ianto cautiously ahead, Owen brandishing his shotgun - their only weapon left.


	7. Chapter 7

7

Across the street from Karrington's house, Jack checks for creatures, while Ianto and Owen press up against the side of a building

"On three." Jack hisses. He counts off one finger, two, then they run for it. As they careen through the snow, the Karrington house looks sooo far away -Ianto gets there first, uses his car key to pry loose the board over the front door. As it swings loose, Jack and Owen move warily through the front door. Jack and Owen burst inside, breathless, as Ianto pulls the board shut. They stand silently by the door, listening for any trace of pursuers. Jack whispers "We can't try the attic just yet. We've gotta make sure we weren't seen, we didn't lead them here."

They wait uneasily for a moment then Jack motions "Quietly go through the house, see what we find"

Owen shows off a pair of old kids' walkie-talkies "Kids here left something good"

Jack joins Owen in the hall, carrying canned goods, as Ianto arrives an armful of candles and a propane heater "And from the master bedroom …" he produces a pistol. Jack holsters it doubtfully - knowing it won't help, but it couldn't hurt, when -THHHHUMMMPP - a sudden sound from outside. The three freeze, look to each other.

Tentatively Ianto whispers "Snow falling off the roof?"

They wait, wait - no further sound. Jack sets down his loot, inspects the hallway ceiling "It's hidden well"

He pulls at a moulding - a ladder lowers into place. Cocking the pistol, he places a foot on the rungs -Carter's face slowly edges into view - shuddering with relief as he sees its Jack down below.

Warm with the amber glow from the propane heater, Ianto and Jack huddle with the survivors reeling with shock – Owen, Denise, Doug, Lew, Carter, Lucy, Stephen, Wilson and Isaac.

Jack tries to calm everyone with soft spoken conversation "How did you know about this attic, Denise?"

"Does it matter?"

"I need the odds someone else could know about it, too."

"Um." Denise cringes "Charlie hid me here once. When his wife came home early from work."

The others nod, unwilling to judge. Stephen frowns, a little confused. Ianto finally settles the matter "Glad he did."

Stephen looks at the canisters "How long will these things last?"

"Maybe a week. Maybe a little longer." Jack assures him.

"Then what?"

"Then we find more" Jack replies with a forceful nod.

"And maybe those people give up and go elsewhere." Lucy adds.

"Where are they going to go, exactly?" Ianto cranes his head as he peers out a small slit in the window covering to peer into the darkness.

As that sinks in Wilson whispers "I don't think they ARE people."

Stephen is agreeing "I saw them - feed on …mama. They wanted her blood. They're like vampires, y'know?"

"Vampires are made up, Stephen." Ianto says gently.

"Some of them had, like, fangs."

"Maybe they think they're vampires." Ianto glances at Jack who is silent "Maybe they filed their teeth down and they're some sort of cult."

Doug is fighting hysteria "They don't fall when you shoot them!"

"Hell, neither do I." Lew snorts.

Jack is agreeing "Just because they're as stubborn as Lew doesn't make them supernatural. Look, I don't care what they are. I just care what we do about them"

"There won't be any help for a month." Denise reminds them of the shut out in effect.

Doug is despairing "Ohhhhh God"

"We can't last that long - !" Lucy starts to rock as she stares into space.

Jack rises, determined to put down the growing panic "Look. We need rest. We'll sleep in shifts. Measure out food. Then figure out the next step. (a breath) We have two advantages. We know Stedman. Everything, where to hide, where to attack, where to find resources. And: we know cold"

The others look to Jack, wary but hopeful because they need hope so much, and Jack finds a bit more of his stride "We build towns where there's nothing but ice. We live here for a reason. Because nobody else can."

Ianto, struck by how Jack rises to the moment and stands beside him, nodding in agreement.

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It's been days. The snowfall has ended; a half moon lights the streets along with an incongruously glorious array of stars. Denise punches buttons on her cell phone again and again; the screen keeps reading "SEARCHING SYSTEM" - until finally the screen message changes to: "BATTERY EMPTY - SHUTTING DOWN." Sighing as another hope slips away, she looks to Carter "Does anybody in town have, like, a ham radio or something?"

"Larry Cooper had one, but he moved to Dillingham. Even if we could radio somebody, they can't get to us'

Jack tears a peephole in a window they've covered in tarpaper, Ianto takes a look outside. Nothing. Jack looks out himself, thinking for a moment to himself, his thoughts voiced before he realizes it "If we had kids, this'd be worse."

Ianto stares at him quietly - frustrated not as much by the comment, as by why they fight at all. Before he can answer, he's interrupted by elderly Isaac, sitting up in confusion "Where's Catherine? Catherine?"

Jack watches in concern as Wilson kneels beside Isaac. "Mom died from lung cancer, Dad - sixteen years back."

Isaac frowns, baffled - when a SUDDEN CRASH OUTSIDE KILLS THE BREATH IN EVERYONE. Ianto joins Jack to peer out. The door to a home is lying in the street - two of Alistair's creatures are visibly tearing through the place.

"They're ransacking the Clarks' place - tearing through everyone's home." Ianto whispers. The group absorbs the news with dread, mentally calculating.

"All right. It'll take them a few days to get through all the houses" Jack decides a Doug panics, in Jack's face.

"Then they'll start ripping through the boarded-up places - we have to move!" Doug pleasds.

"When do you suggest we do that? When won't they be out there hunting?" Jack asks.

"We can wait here till they find us and kill us all, or we can run like hell! Some of us won't make it, but that's better'n all of us dying - !" Doug snaps back.

"Then you might want to wait a few more days, lose a little weight so you won't be bringing up the rear - !" Stephen snarls and Doug SLAPS Stephen hard - which makes Jack automatically, brutally grab Doug by the neck and thump him then stare him down.

"Start a fight, the noise'll get us killed a lot faster. You want that?" Jack snarls with their noses touching. "Touch him again and I feed you to them!"

Doug hears, sulking. Jack's gaze sears the point home - then he drops Doug, takes a deep breath, looks to the others "The Utilidor's the strongest building in town. Its generator's underground, it won't make any noise. We get there, we can last the rest of the month. But it's so far, we can't head there till another storm gives us cover. (looks outside) The next blizzard, we'll be ready."

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Time seems to slow. It's different in the dark.

Kirsten Toomey, the daughter, wandering the streets - clothing askew, face bruised. She walks this way and that, terrified and lost –"SOMEONE"

Doug and Wilson share a can of beets. Jack changes the propane canister. Ianto, Lucy, Carter and Isaac sleep - until they're awakened by Kirsten's pained voice echoing up to the attic . Everyone tenses. Jack peels back the peephole. Kirsten keeps wandering, desperate and overwhelmed "HELLO"

Ianto and Owen join Jack, watching in horror. Owen whispers "We need to bring her in before they find her"

He turns to go for Kirsten, until Jack holds him "You think they haven't already?"

Owen blinks, confused. Jack points his gaze back outside "Watch"

Kirsten wanders past "SOMEOOOONE"

"Now look at the roofs behind her" Jack points and Owen's gaze shifts to the rooftops - where SHADOWS STALK KIRSTEN, WATCHING HER EVERY MOVE -IN THE ATTIC - Owen looks to Jack, grief-stricken "They could take her anytime they wanted. They're hoping she'll lure someone out."

"So we can't do anything?" Doug questions Jack. Owen picks up Doug's gaze; his own glance to Jack carries the implicit challenge - with guys like Doug around, you can't be helpless while the town is at stake.

Jack heeds Owen's silent advice, decides "I'm heading out."

"Not alone." Ianto argues.

"The more of us go, the more chance we'll be seen."

"I'm coming with you." Owen argues. Agreeing, Ianto rises, reaching for his gear.

"Protecting this attic is the first priority" Jack speaks aside to Ianto, private "Ianto, these folks need hope, you're better at that, besides. We both know I need you to protect or I might faulter and they all suffer."

Ianto nods; he doesn't like it, but he's right. Jack reaches for the pistol - and Owen hefts up his shotgun "So let's go, Jack"

"I don't want company."

"Didn't ask what you want. Let's move."Owen sneers.

Owen, I'm the boss. It's my job to keep you all safe"

"Yeah, hell of a job you've been doing." Doug snorts behind them.

Jack stares daggers at Doug, while Ianto turns to Owen "Listen. We have two firearms. Jack's taking the pistol he found downstairs. We need the bigger weapon here with us. We need you here."

"I shot one of them to hell, he just shrugged it off. Weapons won't help." Doug shrugs.

"Maybe YOURS won't." Owen takes a post with his shotgun by the trapdoor. Jack leans into Ianto as he leaves, whispers to him "Told you you're better with people"

Ianto looks back evenly, not giving him any ground. Then to Jack's surprise there comes a soft kiss, sad and remorseful. The spark is still there and he hesitates as he looks into those grey storms. Holding his breath, Jack quietly lowers the staircase and leaves. Once he's gone, Ianto corners Doug, taking no prisoners "I hear another slam at Jack from you, I'll throw you to those things myself."

Taken aback Doug splutters "I thought you and he were…"

"Thinking." Ianto rolls his eyes "That's where it all goes awry for you, Doug."

He turns away and looks outside apprehensively - his thoughts with Jack despite everything .


	8. Chapter 8

8

In the starlight, white now with exhaustion and pain, Kirsten Toomey makes another circuit of the town - now some distance from the Karrington house "hello – anybody"

She rounds a corner to find Alistair, Iris and four other vampires looking at her hungrily "Please - I tried - there's nobody left - please, God"

The vampires circle her slowly, deliberately. The pale, fleshy Archibald and the cadaverous Arvin look to Alistair, still speaking in their ancient tongue of hunger and need. The vampires nod with Alistair's go-ahead - then we see one FLASH OF A CLAW - there is a red streak on Kirsten's face -ANOTHER CLAW FLASHES, THEN ANOTHER - bit by bit she's being carved away as the vampires each take a turn, circling closer and closer -While around the CORNER OF THE CLOSEST HOUSE - Jack sidles into view - fighting not to be crushed by the discovery that Kirsten is beyond help -And as he leans against the house, in a moment of grief.

A drift of snow falls from the house to the snowy ground. A thud that makes two vampires turn in his direction as Jack steals off. Jack hurries to flatten himself against an exterior wall of the house, between supplies for Rhodes' sled dogs. He works to control his breath while in the distance he sees the two vampires searching, heading off. He may be safe for the moment - until his blood runs cols as he heard Rhodes "Jack"

Across the street, in the shadows of the crawlspace under his house, is an agonized James Rhodes. Jack whispers across the expanse "James, how long have you been out here?"

Disoriented he answers "not sure"

Jack can sense something's not quite right about him, though it's not clear what "Where's Ally - ?"

"They took her - they bit my face, then took her - couldn't follow, leg hurts - so cold" he whimpers.

"Hang on, we'll get you to safety"

"So hungry - so hungry"

Jack edges to the edge of the house; all is quiet. He reaches out a hand to Rhodes "I'll pull you out - just stay quiet"

Jack hauls Rhodes forward; Rhodes uses his left leg only to help propel himself. Jack tugs the gasping Rhodes to his feet, bracing him -And in the moonlight, we can now see that is scar had turned black … so have his eyes "Jackkkkkkkkkkkk"

He opens his mouth wide - his gums have dried up, making his incisors look as long as fangs. He aims for Jack's face -Jack sees it just in time - slugs Rhodes in the stomach - He pulls away, slipping on ice, losing his gun in deep snow. Rhodes falls, dazed - but driven by inexplicable hunger, he limps after Jack, who charges off searching for cover .

Jack charges through Riis's backyard - but one snowdrift is deeper than he expects, and he loses his balance, reaching out to the chains on a child's swing set to right himself -Rhodes lunges for Jack, the two tangled in the chains, unable to escape each other. Rhodes' jaws strain to reach Jack -Jack pulls out his pistol, but Rhodes pries it from Jack's grasp, dropping it so it disappears in the snow

"What the hell happened to you - ?"

Rhodes blinks his eyes; he truly doesn't know what happened to him. Jack searches about in panic, finally seeing - AN AXE. Jack strains the chains of the swing - it'll mean letting go of Rhodes for a moment, but he dives to reach the axe - free now, he leans toward Jack, jaws salivating, about to clamp his teeth down on Jack's neck -Jack swings the axe hard, catching Rhodes in the shoulder.

Thodes is in pain but still going "JACK"

Black blood flows from his wound as Jack wriggles loose, gets his bearings and then SWINGS AGAIN AND AGAIN - focusing on Jack's pain as he's forced to do what must be done -Finally he staggers back against the woodpile.

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..

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Ianto and Owen meet a drained Jack sweeping his tracks. They pull the board closed as Jack joins them inside with his axe "lost my gun"

"Wouldn't have done any good anyway" Owen assures him.

"think there's close to twenty of them, but there might as well be two hundred - they're watching everywhere, don't know what they're planning" Jack tells them, then the worst revelation "and James became one of them."

Ianto and Owen try to absorb this … it can't be true. Ianto finally asks "How'd you stop him?"

Jack nods grimly toward his bloodied axe "Nothing lives without a head."

Ianto watches Jack wrestling with what he's done "You had to."

"I may have to again - they can turn us into them" Jack swallows.

"Oh God" Ianto and Jack wrestle with the shock - the world is so much more horrible than they ever dreamed - as Owen examines the bloodied axe soberly, eyes full of dread. Ianto looks to the attic with a sudden apprehension "If we tell everyone, they'll panic"

"People deserve to know." Jack disagrees.

"And if they don't know, they could get us killed - they gotta get what's at stake" Owen agrees with Jack and Ianto is still not sure.

"How do we tell them?"

"How do we not?"

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Alistair and Iris grimly examine Rhodes' corpse, Alistair fingering his fangs with his talon-like nails. He looks to Iris, curious - THEY did not do this. Who could have?

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Day 12

Stephen scoops the last from a can of Devilled Ham, looks to Ianto "You sure you don't want the last?"

Ianto shakes his head "I used to like the little devil on these cans."

Stephen sighs softly and Ianto pulls him close "If we can last till daylight's back - they didn't show up till sundown. Maybe they can't stand the light. It's only two and a half weeks"

"Yeah, that's all." Denis laughs softly, a helpless look on her face.

Doung agrees "We can't hold out without food"

Lucy looks up from her hands "What about other houses? People might've left something."

"They could be hiding and living on it themselves." Jack reimds them "There were 152 folks in town. Billy and his family, Paul Jayko, the Robbinses, Adam and Jeannie: we're not the only ones left."

The others look toward the outside, considering, as Jack shows them a crude map he's drawn on the back of a traffic ticket "Look. Before too long there'll be a blizzard. And when it happens, we just need to walk. (indicating on the map) Each lot in town's twenty-five feet wide. So the general store's two hundred seventy-five feet east. The Utilidor's seventy-five west, then due north as far as you can go. We can hit the store for food and then burrow down in the Utilidor. (as the others absorb it) We know this town. We can walk it blindfolded. We just have to wait for the weatherm you've lived here since you were born."

The survivors stir with hope; even Doug takes a breath and finds a bit of patience. Ianto turns privately toward Jack, taking him aside "Hey. You know how you told me you could never be a dad? Bullshit. The way you look out for these people"

"Don't compliment me, you'll just confuse me."

"It's not a compliment. It's an attempt to ram something through that concrete skull: you can pull off more than you think you can." Ianto's words are said with affection as he smiles softly at the man he has loved for as long as he can remember and Jack has to stuff it up as per usual.

"Not if I have to worry my mate'll run away when we can't work something out."

Ianto's smile fades at the dig. They glare at each other in frustration - not sure why every conversation between them has to end in a quarrel .

Ianto's hand goes to his flat stomach and the reason for their break-up is again brought to the surface as Ianto looks out over the night, fingering the locket with the tiny lock of hair.

Close to his heart.


	9. Chapter 9

9

DAY 14.

Isaac has lowered the ladder, he's walking downstairs - Ianto follows him with his flashlight, whispering urgently. Unlike everyone else who must not speak above a hiss, Isaac speaks in his normal full voice, calm and determined "I'm walking to Wainwrights for an icey pop!"

"It's eighty miles, there's no way to get there. Come back upstairs"

Wilson descends the staircase, alarmed as Isaac turns to speak to him "Wilson! Come along, we need to get out! Bring your mother, too"

Ianto holds onto Isaac before he can reach the front door; he works to shake him off. Ianot pleads "We'll die if you go out there"

Isaac is angry now "NO. NO. I'LL DIE IF I STAY IN HERE "

Ianto clamps a hand over Isaac's mouth. Ianto and Wilson struggle to hold Isaac back - he wriggles and writhes until finally he cries, and stops resisting. Isaac whispers "I'm sorry - Jesus, look at me - I'm so sorry"

Wilson is lost for words "It's all right, Dad - anyone would…"

"Just stay quiet, Mr. Bulosan" Ianto pleads gently, letting go.

Isaac looks around, confused "Can I - the bathroom - ?"

Ianto nods "Remember you can't flush, the noise - we'll just open the valve afterward"

Isaac nods, not understanding fully but cooperating for now. They lead him delicately to the bathroom and Wilson closes the door on his father - then slides down the wall, drained. Ianto tries to encourage him "What are the odds we would make it this long? We're ahead of the curve."

"Every day they need more food. They'll be back."

Ianto grimaces "Maybe they'll starve first. Ever think of that? We can see in the empty houses, they're not rifling through pantries, they're not living on frozen food"

"We're their frozen food"

Suddenly, a SLIDING RASP from inside the bathroom. They look to each other in alarm. Wilson TAPS on the door "Dad? (silence) Dad - ?! (rising, to Ianto) Should we break in?"

"The noise." he pulls out his driver's license, slips it through the door to manipulate it open. he shines his flashlight inside -Revealing an empty bathroom - and an OPEN WINDOW. Wilson turns and runs for the front; Ianto catches him "Wait! You can't just rush out there!"

"HE'S MY FATHER - !" Wilson tugs loose - Ianto reaches for him again. Without warning he turns around and SLUGS him flat - he lands with a THUMP as Wilson escapes out the front door.

The THUMP makes Jack's eyes blink instantly awake "Ianto - ?"

He searches the room. Only Doug and Lucy are awake. Lucy points down the ladder. Jack bolts up, disoriented and alarmed, and reaches for his axe. Jack descends the ladder warily, axe ready - only to find Ianto dazed on the floor where he fell "What the hell happened?"

"I'm fine, thanks" He knows that, but he's too alarmed at the signs of danger to say anything of comfort.

"How long has this ladder been down?"

Ianto is still getting his bearings "Oh God - maybe five minutes"

Jack lifts the ladder back into place, as Ianto rises "Isaac took off for Wainwrights. Wilson went to find him"

"And you let them go?"

Ianto rubs his jaw; archly "Yeah, that's just what I did"

Wilson moves quickly, risking death every second he's out - in the attic he was only wearing a down vest, unprepared for the savagery of the cold "Dad! Dad - !"

Silence.

Wilson looks to the sky, down an alley, under a house, growing desperate -The loose door of a house SLAMS in the wind - Wilson startles, backing away from the house -Shivering, teeth starting to chatter, he's realizing this is a very BAD idea, but he can't abandon his father "Daaaad - !"

His breath billows - he wipes snow and tears from his face - steps into a small snow bank - and is suddenly pulled the rest of the way in -He starts to GASP - when his cries are muffled in the snow. Second by second, the snow bank turns red with his blood

Jack and Ianto simmer, bitter with losing Wilson Jack snarls "You should've stopped him"

"I fucking tried."

"Oh yeah? How hard? Part of you probably thought: of course he should look for his dad, right? Family comes first!" Jack snorted and Ianto reared back as if struck.

After a beat; stung, Ianto says sadly "At least Wilson went out doing what he had to, for his family"

Jack can't believe he's throwing this at him now - tersely he returns the favour "Or he was just screwed up because someone he thought loved him ran out on him."

Jack and Ianto stare each other down - too angry to know how to work through this until -AN EERIE SCRATCHING SUDDENLY FILLS THE ROOM ABOVE. Jack and Ianto scramble upstairs and pull the ladder closed. The scrabbling and scratching across the roof continues, freaking everyone as Jack moves to kill the propane heater "Get down - cover up - !"

Jack, Ianto and Stephen flatten against the wall by the peephole.

The others dive under sleeping blankets - fighting to stay quiet and remain still –the scrabbling moves from one side of the roof to another, then it doubles, triples … as if there are three creatures on the roof now and Owen raises the shotgun towards the sound as Jack motions for him to stay his response.

Lucy quivers, Denise and even Doug both tremble as they feel surrounded -There is silence for a moment - the survivors wonder if they can relax -THEN DENISE STIFLES A SCREAM AS A CRUEL BLACK EYE LOOKS IN THROUGH THE WINDOW, SEARCHING -Ianto tenses, his breathing tight and thin. Jack and Stephen look to him in concern - After an achingly fearful moment, the eye disappears, the scrabbling sounds stop. Jack looks to the others, his voice tight with congestion and alarm - clearly the Karrington house is compromised now "It's snowing - grab trash bags from downstairs, we're getting all the food* we can carry… Ianto?"

But Ianto's breathing is also compromised - his chest heaves, sucking in air. Owen approaches, sotto voce: "Your inhaler"

Dog leans forward, not sure he heard that "What - ?"

between breaths Ianto huffs "Useless - threw it in the snow"

"WHAT - ?"

"What're you going to do without an inhaler? Do they have them in the store - ?" Jack asks.

"Wait a minute wait a minute, what? You've got, like, some kinda breathing problem?" Doug asks.

"Ianto's lungs were damaged in an incident … ended his career" Jack nods tersely to both of them. "It cost us dearly, his lungs will never be full strength, they were crushed for too long."

Ianto is fighting for breath, as Doug reappraises Jack in a panic "We're following your plans, and you're keeping secrets? What else don't we know - ?"

Jack has had enough of this ""shut up, Doug"

"Fuck no! YOU shut up!' Furious, Doug shoves Jack back - and even through his pained breaths, Ianto punches Doug into the wall. Jack intercedes as Ianto braces himself against Stephen, pulling in air "Jesus, Doug!"

Lew talks over Ianto's wheezing "He's right, we need food - !"

Doug's about to speak again, when Stephen SLAMS him to the floor: "What the hell?! When the shit went down, who kept it together? You were busy shouting, 'They can't be shot!' Who kept it together?!"

They both know the answer. They look to Ianto, who's finally recovering his breath bit by bit. Jack is right, he will never be 100% again. It almost killed him.

Jack settles it "we need to move"

Snow falls harder and harder on Stedman.

A gunshot echoes throughout the town. It's the Colletta House. A modest home. Adam Colletta and his wife Jeannie, 30s, lie on the living room floor, wrenched from their hiding place. Adam, a newly-fired pistol in his hand, stares in amazement -Alistair, blood dripping from his chest, glares at them while ripping the gun from Adam's hands. He speaks in a guttural rasp - his English not easy, his accent unplaceable "You had your chance to help us find your friends. Now, you'll have to watch."

Alistair lifts up Adam, reaches for a fireplace poker, and impales Adam through the guts and into the wall. Choking in pain, Adam is unable to move as Alistair takes Adam's chin and directs his gaze toward Iris "Iris. You may take your time."

Neither Alistair nor Iris takes any sadistic pleasure from this; it's simply the price that Adam and Jeannie must pay for resistance. Iris reaches for a hand of the terrified, sobbing Jeannie.

Adam screams as his wife's fingers are snapped, one by one "NOOOOoooooo - !"

Alistair, not as distracted by this as he wishes he could be, drops his hold on Adam, wanders to the stereo system. As Jeannie Gasps with each finger snap, Alistair rests a talon on a phonograph record sitting on the turntable. It's almost as if, through his talons, he listens to the music in the record grooves, his thoughts alive but unreadable.

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DAY 20

Everyone is thinner, dirtier, drained. Jack faces them, energized for a plan, a plan not everyone trusts yet "the fastest of us head to the store for food and supplies - then if the storm's still holding out, we all go to the Utilidor."

Doug is quiet, surly "You really think we can make it?"

"You can't see a foot out there. So neither can they. The whiteout will cover our tracks - if we leave now" Jack points out the window and they look in that direction as well.

"And how do we get into the Utilidor?" Carter asks "It's locked tight - hell if I know where my keys are"

Jack and Ianto trade looks - wheels turning "That sewage pipe. The one the twins were fixing - ?"

Thinking it through Carter nods "It's shut off from the rest of the town. It'll lead straight underground and inside."

Wincing at the idea Lucy sighs "The sewage pipe."

"It hasn't been used in weeks. Be glad you'll be alive to smell it. And once we're out there - NO STOPPING." Jack is in hero mode now, focused and read yot move out "There's no fighting these things, we have to move move move"


	10. Chapter 10

10

Scarved and masked, Jack carries his axe as he leads the survivors step by step through the biting snow, as screeches echo distantly around them. Lucy stumbles, Carter helps her as they fight to clear their vision. Through the chaos, we hear Ianto's breath, shallow and tense.

Whiteout.

Alistair stands with Iris, peering through the sheets of snow. He hears something but cannot see.

Jack and his crew feel their way up the steps of the general store. Lucy practically sobs with relief as Owen helps her in. The doorway looms like a black hole with snow collecting in the open threshold. Owen stands by the door peering out nervously, the shotgun ready.

Ianto runs his flashlight over the store as Jack's ready to swing his axe - all appears clear. The survivors pull plastic trash bags from their parkas, as Jack looks first to Lew, Lucy, Denise and Doug "You four, grab all the canned goods you can. Ianto and Carter, propane and batteries. Stephen, medical supplies. I'm getting axes and bear traps. You have two minutes."

Stephen stuffs his bag with pain meds and bandages. Jack passes him and grabs a handful of Inhalers. Jack pops one open, shakes it, then flicks it at Ianto who catches it easily and blasts himself gratefully as Jack shoves the inhalers in a pocket and moves on with a new energy -

Jack pulls three bear traps, tucks them under one arm, then reaches for axes. Down the aisle, Ianto and Carter bundle up more propane canisters and batteries

Denise, Lew and Lucy collect cases of Ensure. Doug additionally stuffs his pockets with Oreos, grimly chuckles "Told my wife I wouldn't live on these while she was gone"

"She'll cut you slack." Denise smiles. As they wad their trash bags full of emergency nutrition, they hear a quiet sobbing coming from the back. The four of them exchange looks, and warily walk toward the rear storage room where they see, from behind, the source of the sobbing. A cute little girl is bent over the prone, bloodied body of Tom Milles, the kid we met kissing his girlfriend farewell "It's Tommy Milles" Denise whispers "Oh, honey, you need to come with …"

The girl turns and looks at them. Her mouth is covered in blood, and we see now that it's Tom Milles who's doing the sobbing - the girl is a vampire.

"I'm done playing with this one" She places a taloned hand on Tom's jaw and rips as she eyes them eerily "You want to play with me now?"

The four onlookers freak - Lew reaches for a shovel to serve as a weapon, while the others charge back into the store. Owen hears the commotion behind him as he continues his vigil at the window. Denise hisses in a panic toward Jack and Ianto "In the back - !"

Lew's tossed violently back into the store like a toy, the shovel clattering uselessly behind him. Jack drops his bear traps, brandishes the axe, ready to swing but the little girl careens out of the storage room like a dervish, presenting a smaller target than Jack expected - he swings over her head and she knocks him down -The little girl's about to pounce on Jack when Ianto grabs her from behind and throws her down the aisle -Doug pulls Denise toward the front, as Carter reaches for a can of mace and sprays it into the little girl's face –it shrieks and only lunges for Carter all the harder, ripping off his cap and baring her fangs -But now Jack's back - he charges the girl and fights to pin her against the wall - she kicks and spits like a snake -Jack looks for help – Owen and Ianto join him to pin the girl as she nearly wriggles from their grip - they can't hold her long "The axe - somebody - !"

Doug keeps pulling Denise and Lucy toward the door "Come on - !"

The women waver, not sure if they should run out yet. The little girl kicks and twists - Jack, Owen and Ianto are losing their grip on her

"SOMEBODY! THE AXE - !" Jack cries and an axe blade flashes past Jack's face. Suddenly the little girl's body is still - writhing only in automatic nervous movement for a few moments. Jack, Ianto and Owen look up to see -Stephen - axe in hand - falling backward against the dry goods, knocked for a loop by what he's done, fighting tears -Jack embraces his grandson in concern - then looks to Doug, Lucy and Denise as they slowly emerge "Where the hell were you?!"

"I thought we should get the food back to the others - in case you lost." Doug says with a weak smile.

Ianto rises in pain, catching his breath as he considers Doug's plan - then ruefully claps Doug on the shoulder "Smart call."

Stephen stands over the corpse, still overwhelmed "She - just a girl."

Consoling him, Ianto says softly "Not anymore."

"She spoke to us. In English. Was she some girl they just turned - or one of them? Does anybody recognize her?" Denise asks.

Jack is now correcting Denise "It. Not her."

They look toward the decapitated head, wincing. Nobody has an answer. Lucy walks toward the front door, reeling. Carter (scarf tightly wrapped around his head) sounds nauseated "It pulled Tom's head off before it attacked us"

"Maybe they don't just do that out of blood-thirst" Ianto ponders.

Jack nods, agreeing "They want to keep their numbers down. They don't want to give themselves competition."

Jack and Ianto share a look: no enemy has ever been more ruthless

Lucy calls softly from the doorway "The whiteout's over"

Jack and Ianto appear in the doorway in panic toward the front - to see it's true. The snow has eased to the point where the street is visible again through the front door. Ianto groans "Our cover's gone."

"And the fresh snow'll show tracks." Jack agrees. They regard each other in dread.

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Lighter snowfall. Alistair and Iris stand and shake the snow from their shoulders, ready to hunt again -Across the street, they see two other vampires climbing along the eaves of houses, also starving.

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The survivors huddle in the back, trapped, brainstorming. Jack considers "They watch the store more than anyplace else. We need to move or we'll be trapped."

We can't get to the Utilidor." Doug argues "It's too far without cover."

"Could we make it back to your station if somebody created a diversion?" Carter asks.

Jack studies his friend, hearing how Carter's offering himself for that role "It's not going to be you, Carter "

Jack and Carter face off, respecting each other's bravery when Ianto speaks up with the energy of a new plan "It won't be you either. These things can't survive the sun. What if we brought the sun early?"

"Like how exactly?" Jack turns to Ianto with interest.

"Alice had that medical marijuana operation at home" Ianto explains and Stephen turns.

Getting it, Stephen steps closer "Yeah - she used an ultraviolet lamp to grow the stuff"

Desperate for some humour Denise gasps "All right, Alice!"

"I can run for her place - let them follow me - then fry them with the sunlamp while the rest of you beat it to the sheriff's station." Ianto offers.

"What the hell makes you think a sunlamp will make a dent in them?" Doug snorts.

Carter's argument is overlapping "We've got all kinds of wattage at the Utilidor and they still came and ate Xavier"

"Ultraviolet, Carter. There's no UV light here for another two weeks. It'll be the last thing they expect."

Lew points out "Just because something stopped Bela Lugosi doesn't mean it'll stop these things."

"They didn't show up till it was dark. Why would they use that stranger to cut us off - unless they just can't handle sunlight?" Ianto asks.

"What if it doesn't work - ?" Stephen whines.

He's got nothing, Ianto shrugs "It has to. (a deep breath) Take this, I need to run light"

Jack whispers "You don't even think this plan'll work."

"But they do. Right?"

Look, who's the immortal here?" Jack asked "I'm making the run. I'll stop them with the sunlamp and see you back at the attic."

Reluctantly handing him the walkie-talkie Ianto reminds gently "You'll need to start her jenny first."

It's in her side yard by the woodpile. Head in the back door, the pot's growing in the laundry room." Stephen clings to Ianto with relief as Ianto lets him slide into his arms.

Ianto holds Jack to this "See you soon."

He turns to go - Ianto's loving and hating him for putting himself on the line like this.

He seizes Jack and kisses him with an energy that left Jack lightheaded.

"Be careful" Ianto whispers "You don't know if you can die after you've turned."

Jack nods, taking a moment to memorize Ianto's smell.


	11. Chapter 11

11

Light snowfall, ethereal calm. Until Jack BOLTS out of the store, setting a land speed record as he lets his axe whack against lampposts, drawing attention away from the store. Alistair, Iris and two other vampires hear the sounds Jack is creating - they turn a corner to see Jack speeding away at the end of the next block.

A modest, unassuming home, its front windows broken. Jack, careens into the side yard and pushes the generator button. Nothing. He pushes it again, again - finally it starts. Alistair's pack turns in the direction of the generator starting up.

Jack, runs into the laundry room - finds the pot garden. He BLASTS flips on a light switch -A BULKY ULTRAVIOLET SUNLAMP - SIX FEET LONG - ILLUMINATES THE NOW-DEAD PLANTS -Jack laughs despite himself, light's never been so beautiful.

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Ianto ushers the others, arms full of supplies, out into the street "Go, go, go"

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The snow has stopped. Alistair, Iris and the others reach Alice's house, eyes filled with murderous anticipation. Jack readies the sunlamp, steeling himself for confrontation -The floor CREAKS - and Jack freezes. They could come at him from any direction. The MOAN of the wind through the house SLAMS A DOOR open and shut somewhere, keeping him on edge

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Ianto's party hustles ahead – Owen and Lew in the lead, Denise, Lucy and a bundled-up Carter behind him, followed by Stephen and Ianto. Doug, in the rear, stumbles in a snowdrift, his store of food spilling everywhere. As he scrabbles in the snow quickly to retrieve it all - WHOOOOM - there is a flash of black - a vampire drops from the rooftops onto Doug -He lashes at Doug's neck, keening to call allies as Ianto's party disappears around a corner ahead -Ianto turns at the KEENING of the vampire, the GURGLING SCREAMS from DOUG - but Owen pulls him onward. In a cold sweat, he knows he must keep the others moving.

The survivors haul inside - faint lights flickering as the jenny fights on. Owen covers them at the door with his shotgun as Ianto copes with his fear for Jack.

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Jack's primed for the attack - but still it's a shock when the vampires BREAK DOWN THE DOOR after Jack. He sucks in all the breath he can, and aims the sunlamp at them -IRIS SIZZLES - her skin charring as she screams with pain and staggers away -Jack holds fast - this rare victory overwhelming him with relief, even as his eyes widen in awe at this uncanny sight -Alistair pulls Iris away, but LOCKS EYES with Jack for one moment - nobody has ever destroyed one of his toys. He will not forget Jack.

Alistair backs away with the dying Iris before he can be hit with the next blast of UV light .

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Stephen looks soberly at the floor, where shreds of Alice's dress and the Stranger's clothes lie amid bloodstains. Ianto kills the lights, fires up the WALKIE-TALKIE "Jack, we're safe - your status?"

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Jack looks out the window - outside Iris is collapsing to the ground, a charred husk. Alistair is visibly ordering the other two attackers to tear the generator loose – "It worked once - but they're killing the power!"

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Ianto, Owen and the other survivors listen in alarm as Jack continues to talk "I'll have to run for it somehow"

Hushed, Denise whispers despite herself "He's toast"

Forget about their quarrels - Ianto slowly dies inside at the knowledge that he's losing Jack -Lew's struck by Ianto's pain - moved despite himself - and grabs the walkie-talkie from Ianto, "I'll get you a shot, Captain. Break out and tear for Rogers Avenue, run toward the ditch driller"

"The brakes are jammed on that thing"

"What I got in mind don't need brakes." Lew hefts the bear traps, heads for the ladder, resolved, as his plan becomes clear to a stunned Ianto.

"Lew - ?!"

Lew pulls a wad of unpaid tickets from his parka "Tell Jack to mark these paid in full, okay?"

Ianto shakes his head "You can't - !"

"Jack's done his turn as decoy" Lew sniffs and then leans in honestly now "he's needed more'n I am"

Ianto, both scared and touched looked at Owen who nods silently in agreement as he hefts his shotgun.

Shit.

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Jack charges out the front door, while behind the house. Alistair smashes the sunlamp as he urges the others after Jack. Jack darts with his axe from house to house, seeing the street sign for Rogers Avenue.

Alistair snarls in pursuit, pointing out Jack's footprints to the others. Alistair's trio is joined by four more vampires answering the howl - the seven prowl down the avenue in search of Jack. They pause when they hear a low grumbling roar behind them -Suddenly an enormous chainsaw lunges at Alistair's crew - the ditch driller. With an impudent Lew at the wheel. The chainsaw's steel teeth ripping through one vampire's body – torn in half as Lew steers the ditch driller forward "Who's next, huh?"

The vampires swarm toward the ditch driller furiously - one of them jumping into the dump bay to attack Lew from behind and Owen pops up, firing into the thing's chest and it staggers back on the back platform -SNAP! He lands in a steel bear trap camouflaged under the snow on the platform's edge. The trap's teeth rip into his leg - he bleeds black upon the snow and falls off the truck - mauled by the tire chains as Lew drives over him -Jack runs to help, outdistanced as Lew drives the ditch driller away with the vampires swarming over it. Jack stares in awe.

Lew sees two vampires swarming onto his hood, bashing at the windshield and creating spider-web cracks. He swerves and fishtails - hurtling the vamps this way and that. One slips and falls into the chainsaw. Lew FLOORS the gas again "Welcome to Stedman! Top of the world!"

Owen whoops as he pokes the shotgun barrel out a hole and lets loose.

Jack runs after them.

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Ianto watches around the edge of a window blind for Jack -While Carter uses a small flashlight to look into a mirror. His face is scarred - skin dead-white – eyes now dead black.

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Lew drives on, as vampires race toward the ditch driller from the alleys. Owen aims his sotgun at them - pumping rounds. LOADING. RELOADING. SHOOTING. Driving back enemies - but the swarm is inevitably starting to engulf him. He circles back and shoves Owen out the door, leaving him to tumble to Jack's feet - and steers toward the ADMIRALTY BAY HOTEL as vampires shatter the windshield. Powering straight into the hotel, Lew screams all the way as the ditch driller impacts.

Sudden quiet.

The ditch driller sits in the middle of rubble. Lew grabs Owen's shotgun from the floor of the cab and a box of flares from the truck, climbing out through the windshield -No sign of his enemies. He slides, dazed and bleeding, off the hood of the truck and looks about -Emerging from the rubble, six vampires surround him - two of them still pinned in bear traps - all of them viciously angry. Lew lifts his shotgun -CLICK. Empty. He grins punchily - reaches for a flare "You ain't gonna eat me"

He lights a flare, drops it in the box exploding them all.


	12. Chapter 12

12

Jack stops for a second in heartbreak, regarding the fiery glow from Rogers Avenue - Lew's sacrifice. Owen seizes Jack's lapels and shakes him.

They run.

Lew's attackers, on fire, throw themselves into the snow as Alistair, waiting outside, looks on in disgust. At last Lew himself staggers out, gasping in pain, near dead, walking on autopilot, a charred wreck of a man finally collapsing atop the fallen sign for the ADMIRALTY BAY HOTEL.

Alistair snarls and lifts his boot above Lew's head.

CRUNCH

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Owen and Jack return and a relieved Ianto hugs Jack for all he's worth - he's too drained to respond except to mourn "Lew."

Ianto agrees sadly nodding "And Doug."

Ianto reaches toward Jack in grief - they take hands. Stephen, Lucy and Denise stop sorting the canned goods to honour Lew's loss, while Carter broods from a corner. Owen reaches for a drink and rubs his face. Jack and Ianto shake with pain, absorbing the tragedy - Then Jack embraces Ianto with all the passion he has ever felt for him.

The two of them reconnect, all past quarrels forgotten - nearly shaking with the depth of their need for each other -They reach for breath and share a deeper look, affirming their bond - as Lucy breaks the moment, trying to wrap her head around all the losses "Now there's seven of us."

"Soon there'll be just six." Carter pulls back his hood and shows them his dead-black eyes. The others tense in fear, watching Carter sweating and trembling like a malaria victim - as Jack and Ianto steel themselves to fight Carter if they have to and Carter continues to speak "the girl in the store. I changed - - so thirsty now - what do you think, do those things live forever?"

Jack lifts his axe warily "I… don't know"

"Couldn't tell you - that photo's all I've got left of my family - Martha took the kids to visit her mom, they were hit by a drunk driver " Carter is fighting back tears "I wanted to join them so much - couldn't bring myself to do it - but I know they're waiting for me -(bitterly) I can't live forever. Don't let me"

Ianto is in sheer denial "No. No."

."He's told us what he wants" it's sinking in for Jack. He stares Ianto down - until he sees there's no other way. Jack lifts his axe, nods to Carter, walks with him to the station's kitchen. Ianto watches them go, eyes full of tragedy. Nearly writhing with helplessness, Ianto dreads what he's about to hear - waiting, waiting - And after a moment, we hear the cruel THUNK of the axe - Ianto and the other survivors wince, knowing their friend is gone now. At last Jack trudges back in, aching, walking across the station, unable to look at any of them now. Desperate to help, Ianto crosses to him and whispers "We can make it. We got food enough for two more weeks."

Jack snaps fiercely "STOP IT."

"Stop what? Stop hoping?"

Jack looks at him - considers "The last hopeful idea took away three good people… gods I've lost Alice."

Quietly, carefully, Ianto reaches toward Jack but in the wake of losing Carter, Jack pulls back, no longer able to accept consolation. They stand not far apart and yet so aware of the chasm between them - yearning to bridge the gap yet not knowing how - As Jack's searching for words, suddenly he blinks - a small light flashes outside - Jack flares with a new sense of mission "Someone's alive"

They move to the doorway, wary as they study the flashing.

"Morse Code" Ianto whispers.

From a window on the upper floor of a ransacked house two doors down across the street, a penlight keeps flashing. Jack frowns "It's Billy. Wait … I can decode … Hid in the vents - they tore through his house"

Wedged against a window by a pile of furniture hurled into a corner, Billy Cruise - Jack's friend who reported the vandalism of the Snow cats - desperately works a small penlight on his key ring.

Ianto watches as Jack decodes the Morse code "He'll warn us when it's safe - he can see the town, they're coming back!"

The flashing light disappears to blackness as Ianto and Jack close the door in alarm.

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Alistair stalks up to where the charred body of Iris lies upon the icy tarmac - glowering as he regards her ruined form - He kneels beside her, running his nails along her skin. It almost looks sentimental - Until he suddenly, viciously sinks his teeth into her neck, starting to feed - nothing is more important than his hunger. After a moment, he comes up for air, face bloody - and eyes full of the need for vengeance.

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Stephen, Denise and Lucy watch as Jack and Ianto suit up to head outside "What kind of shape can he be in?"

"Maybe he should stay there; we can hold out here if he's our lookout." Lucy whines.

"He's starving, Lucy - while the streets are clear now, we don't have any choice" Ianto replies as Owen moves to stand guard.

"Don't we?" Lucy points out as Denise silences Lucy with a glare. Stephen hands Ianto a can of condensed milk as Jack takes one of the walkie-talkies "This'll help him get back"

"You'll be okay here, Stephen?" Jack asks and Stephen nods solemnly, a silent promise to his grandfather than he's up to the job. Jack shoots a look to Lucy as he prepares to go, firmly resolved "We're not losing anyone else."

Jack and Ianto check the coast - run across the street into an alley and catch their breath - are they being watched? They hesitate, look to each other - they have no other choice. Furiously they bolt toward Billy's house.

Searching through the house, Ianto whispers Jack into the bedroom where furniture has been thrown against the wall "Billy's wife and daughters - they haven't been touched"

An eerily tranquil woman sleeps on the floor beside her teenage daughters. Their bodies tossed aside -Jack senses something's not right, kneels beside the bodies -Where he sees bullet holes at the base of the women's necks. "Someone - SHOT them."

It's the worst thing Jack could see right now - a family killed, betrayed as they slept. As he tries to bear up behind furniture a weak voice croaks "I did"

Ianto and Jack work to pull the furniture away, revealing Billy, dazed and guilty. Ianto grabs the can of condensed milk and kneels beside him "Drink this."

Jack looks around with shock "your family?"

Billy gives a painful nod "didn't want them to die like the others"

Ianto closes his eyes in grief as a shocked Jack absorbs it. Billy continues "tried to shoot myself, too - but the fucking gun jammed - they came when they heard the shots, I hid here and got trapped - (crying now) - shouldn't have signalled to you, just couldn't stand being alone"

Without warning, Jack whacks Billy into the wall, rage boiling over.

Ianto gasps in shock "Jack"

Jack lifts Billy up and backhands him again until Ianto holds him back. Jack's fighting not to be so loud as to attract the enemy and yet unable to stop himself "You had a family! A family! You don't EVER hurt them, you do whatever it fucking takes to…"

Jack loses his breath in his fury, as Billy cries silently, knowing his guilt. Jack shakes his head, not knowing what to do with him - until finally, he gruffly extends a hand "When the sun comes up - you can tell it to a judge"

He lifts an unsteady Billy to his feet, but Billy stumbles back, unable to keep his balance. Jack sighs "You haven't used your legs in two weeks. You'll need to work up to it. (a beat) It could take us days to get back to the station if they're out in the streets again"

Billy is truly lost "Why would we go there?"

"Owen's got Stephen there with Denise and Lucy. We'll reconnect when we can, then move to the Utilidor. There's a sewage pipe outside, we can get into the plant without them seeing" Jack takes a breath and lifts Billy back up, determined "First let's get you able to walk"


	13. Chapter 13

13

Wind HOWLS, driving snow like sand - Jack and Ianto support Billy as they sidle toward the station. Jack warily enters, expecting anything "Oh God"

"What?" Ianto barks. Jack bolts the rest of the way in, searching. Ianto and Billy look about, fighting back terror. Ianto picks up the other walkie-talkie, abandoned on the floor "Maybe they tried for the Utilidor"

Jack nods, summons up energy to head outside again "We'll check every house on the way"

They head out, reaching into their hearts for strength.

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Zurial and Archibald circle this house hungrily, scratching at the windows. From behind the curtains in this now-ransacked and bloodstained home, Jack watches as - Paul Jayko, one of the twin sewage workers, bolts from his house in desperation, driven mad by the taunting of Zurial and Archibald -Paul runs through the snow for just one horrific moment as Alistair swoops down from a roof, plummeting the screaming Paul into a snowdrift -Zurial and Archibald careen after him, ready to feed, only to see that Alistair has beaten them to it –Achibald gives a snarl of challenge and Alistair rears up, face wet with blood, willing to tolerate no challenge to his kill - He doesn't have to say it twice. Archibald and Zurial back off, watching obediently as Alistair descends again to feed on Paul Jayko

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Drained, pallid, but forcing themselves onward, Jack, Ianto and Billy crawl inch by inch, Billy whispers "we've been pushing all week and some of the houses we've hid in are cold, don't have food … only made it a few blocks. …"

Ianto is forced to agree "not even in a straight line"

"We don't have much further to go" Jack promises as he glances over at Ianto. The last few weeks have drained him and Jack knows Ianto is on the edge.

They tense at the wail of a vampire nearby - who is the next prey?

Zurial stalks through a house. Crammed into the closet for the hot water heater are Frank and Michelle Robbins and their kids Larry and Gail. They panic silently, -After a horrible moment, the footsteps fade away, the keening ends - Larry sighs, hoping they are safe -Zurial - in the hallway, turns suddenly - and sees the cloud of Larry's breath coming from the closet.

Screams pull Jack, Ianto and Billy to the edge of the house to see - - GAIL fills the doorframe, careening from the house screaming, Gail is running from: the destruction of her family. Zurial drops the remains of the boy Larry (his mother Michelle's now dead inside), as Larry's father Frank throws himself at Zurial in a desperate attempt to save his family. Zurial clutches Frank by the throat with one hand and begins severing frank one limb at a time - But mostly what they see is Gail - because she's running straight for them where they are hiding under the crawlspace - Ianto reaches out to embrace Gail, clamping a hand over her mouth to stop her crying but it's too late - Zurial looks up from his attack on Frank, narrowing his gaze to find the source of Gail's crying - looking right into the eyes of Jack, Ianto and Billy. He keens hungrily at the sight of them -Jack shoots an order to Billy "I'm giving you a chance to help save someone"

Then he turns to Ianto "Get her away, we'll cover you"

Jack rolls out with Billy before Ianto can argue - raising his axe and tearing with Billy around the side of the house -Face bloody, Zurial follows Jack and Billy around the house. - Ianto and Gail scramble out, searching furiously for safety Jack and Billy run inside the back door, past Michelle's corpse on the floor - But Zurial is there before they know it - he grabs Jack, and the axe clatters to the floor. Billy freaks and runs out - Jack's shocked by the desertion as Zurial's jaws open wide for the attack. Ianto and Gail hesitate by a trio of abandoned cars as they reach a corner – footsteps behind them - Ianto looks about wildly in search of safety - Jack flails an arm toward the kitchen counter, finds a carving knife and slashes it across Zurial's face before the vampire can attack. Zurial reels with an eerie scream, his black blood spurting across his eyes - Jack reaches for the axe and scrambles away as Zurial clutches his face in pain.

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Seemingly desolate, on the edge of town. Inside the mouth of a sewage pipe, Jack edges forward. A whirring mechanical noise echoes through the pipe, shadows trace their way across him as he moves, creaking echoes from here and there - does he dare to take another step? What other choice does he have? He creeps ahead another step - holding his breath as the pipe CREAKS - he's nearly made it to sanctuary when he sees the source of the humming. The whirling, razor-edged shafts of the colossal shredder are almost beneath him, he'll have to jump over them to safety. He leaps forward -And as soon as he lands, without warning, Owen, Lucy, Stephen and Denise emerge from hiding, ready to shove him into the blades! Stephen pulls them back just in time "Uncle Jack!"

Owen cries "We nearly killed you!"

Jack hugs Stephen closely, looks at the four of them - last survivors at the Alamo? All are pale, desperately needing a shower and about a week of sleep - looking as desperate as the vampires. "Where's Ianto? Gail Robbins?"

They all look back sadly - they have no answer.

"Oh God - they're still out there!" Jack moans, in a sudden cold sweat, steeling himself for the worst threat, the possibility that Ianto might not make it.

A gaunt, desperate Billy stands at the sewage pipe which the Jayko twins worked, twisting the hatch. Once it's open, he slides into the sewage pipe and closes the hatch after him -Not seeing that in the distance, Arvin tracks him steadily.

Followed by the others, Jack moves to the window, searching outside for Ianto, pulling out his Walkie-Talkie "Ianto - ! Come in, Ianto, where are you - ?"

Billy crawls from the pipe, sees the spinning blades of the shredder. Taking a deep breath, he jumps over the blades and tumbles into the main room, timid and drained "Hello - ? Anyone - ?"

Glinting in the empty sewage pipe behind him, black vampire eyes.

Jack scans the town for any sign of hope, when Billy cries in the other room "AAAAAAaaaaaaaaa - !"

Jack and the other survivors trade glances - knowing they'll need all of them to help if they've been compromised - Arvin feeds on a twitching, still living Billy -Jack tears in, brandishing his axe - he takes a crushing swing at Arvin just as Arvin turns, and the axe embeds itself in Arvin's arm -Lucy screams as Arvin hurls the axe away and then dives toward Jack, seething in pain and anger, and turns on Denise - Lucy, Denise and Stephen grab Arvin's arms and try to haul him back toward the Muffin Monster as Owen reaches for Jack - but Arvin shrugs them off easily -Until Jack, using the distraction, hurtles himself squarely into Arvin – knocking him towards the whirring blades, but it's not quite enough to knock him in - Arvin catches himself and snarls ferally at Jack, ready to charge him. Billy, on the verge of death, sees Jack with nowhere to run "No"

Summoning every ounce of adrenalin he has left, Billy rams Arvin the rest of the way in -Arvin's pulled through the shafts, unable to resist, buffeted into the depths of the Muffin Monster to his destruction - Even as Billy nearly falls in the shredder himself - he howls as the blades of the shredder clip off his hand! Denise screams, Lucy fights hysteria as Billy reels to the floor, hiding his bloody stump of an arm -Jack lands at his side with Owen, grateful for Billy's help even as he mourns what it has cost him "Christ Billy!"

"I'm dead, Jack"

Billy writhes on the floor, his eyes turning vampire black. The blood from the blades. Shit. Jack reaches for his axe, summoning strength, knowing what he has to do -Owen involuntarily cries out as he sees the axe rise.

Billy screams, a deafening wail. Alistair, stalking through the town with a quartet of vampires, turns at the distant sound of Billy's keening. At his side, a wounded Zurial stands, his face scarred but intact. Their nostrils flare as they hear Billy; there must still prey to be squeezed from this town -Narrowing his eyes, Alistair searches down the street.

The desolate sewage plant waits as Billy's cries fade away. Alistair gestures to his pack; the four vampires plunge ahead. - The four vampires bash at the pump house door, unable to break the steel and concrete.

Jack lifts up his axe and ruefully wipes away Billy's blood - when the survivors hear the pounding echoing from above. Denise, Stephen and Lucy work to resist panic as Owen stands, shivering and looking to Jack for any small hope. Without Ianto at his side, he gives them as much as he can give "We'll wait it out (and, seething) We'll have to."

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Jack paces, losing it - the hours without Ianto are taking a harsh toll.

"Ianto, where are you?" He speaks softly into the walkie-talkie. Waits, waits "Ianto, we're okay, come in"

Nothing but silence. He shudders with rage and helplessness -Denise, Lucy and Stephen are beyond tired; their lips are parched, eyes bloodshot, clothes hanging like dead skin as Owen tries to tend to them as best he can. Denise walks down the corridor carrying a bottle of vodka, a box of chocolates and a jar of vitamins - she presents them to the others with the quiet humour of the totally drained "Found these behind the first aid kit: three of the four basic food groups. Let's mark the occasion. One day till sunrise."

Stephen is eyeing the vodka "Am I too young for this?"

"Nobody's too young in this town." Denise informs him.

Lucy nibbles on a chocolate, her fears welling up again "What if the sun doesn't come up? What if there's a storm?"

Jack turns, stunned at the idea - fighting for hope

"Let's survive today. And then we'll survive tomorrow. Stephen…" Jack gestures for Stephen to join him privately "I just wanted to make sure you knew - good job getting everyone here. I am proud of you sweetheart. I love you."

Stephen takes in the praise - right now it's as valuable as food. And it's clear they don't have many chances left to say the things we all should say to each other - suddenly the walkie-talkie on Jack's belt crackles to life.

"Jack - come in, Jack – over" his voice is thin, whispered, tired - but it's never been more welcome to Jack as he clicks his walkie-talkie

"Ianto!"

Ianto whispers "they've been walking around, but I had to hear your voice - I've got Gail with me"

"Where are you?"

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Ianto and Gail, blue with cold, huddle together under a parked Chevy, with snow packed up around the sides to form a makeshift igloo. Ianto whispers into the walkie-talkie "Under Paul Jayko's Chevy"

"So cold" Gail whimpers and Ianto looks to Gail in concern - the little girl fighting to keep her teeth from chattering. Ianto hugs Gail even tighter to him, pouring every bit of nurturing he has in his soul into keeping this girl safe. He fingers the locket and closes his eyes in a silent prayer.


	14. Chapter 14

14

The others crowd a newly-energized Jack, staring outside –"The sun comes up tomorrow - you and I'll see it together"

A beat as Jack wracks his brain for something to inspire him "remember that ridge? Where we had our first date here? We'll make it back there, baby - I promise"

He keeps searching - he knows he needs to give him more than just memories to keep him going - but what? Stephen spots the stranded Chevy, points it out to Jack "There's the car!"

Denise's eyes widening "Too many of them - they'd kill us way before we'd reach him"

On the main drag, some five blocks away from the Utilidor, an abandoned Chevy waits in the snow

"They're a block away, baby - we need to cut off before they hear you" Jack clutches the walkie-talkie like a lifeline "I'll call you when it's safe – (And he adds, for the first time in a long while) I love you"

A pause - did Ianto hear?

Finally, faintly "I'm sorry, baby - shouldn't ever have left you … we should have worked it out … you would love….shit, what was that!"

Jack steels himself, determining that he will do anything but let him down.

The remaining vampires - eleven grim jackals - listen as Alistair gives clear, vicious orders. The other vampires careen away to do Alistair's bidding.

Ianto's walkie-talkie crackles with Jack's voice so low, it's an intimate volume "Ianto - CLICK TWICE to let me know you're all right."

Ianto's fighting for strength, he and Gail both suffering from the chills, their skin turning brittle and blue. he CLICKS the walkie-talkie ONCE - then TWICE.

"They're up to something, can't tell what - just run like hell if I call"

Ianto CLICKS TWICE to acknowledge him -Jack takes a breath, determined to do something as rough for him as surviving in the cold is for Ianto "Baby - I never wanted to lose you. I just couldn't see how to - Listen. We get through this - when we DO get through this - you'll have a family – WE will be a family."

Ianto closes his eyes, this precious moment warring with desperation - it would be so easy to go to sleep forever. Jack's soft purr jolts him awake "I'll come through for you, just stay with me"

Ianto clutches Gail closer to him - hearing Jack speak like this means so very much to him. It could mean everything.

Jack listens, hears TWO CLICKS in answer - and prays.

A strange blackness ozzes into the streets everywhere - Denise stares out the window –"The streets are filling up with something black"

Jack pushes past her, squinting into the distance, paling "They've broken into the pipeline"

From the Utilidor, we survey the decimated town of Stedman. At the town's far end, Alistair grimly savours the moment as he strikes a match - and drops the lit match into the street - which ignites in oily flame.

Jack keeps staring, putting it all together in dread "They planned this all along - burning down the town."

Denise starts to sob "Everything we've built. Nobody'll know what happened. They'll think it was some horrible accident."

"Next year they'll take out Point Hope" Lucy gasps "Or Wainwright."

"This building's strong. Can't we ride it out here?" Stephen asks.

"Maybe." Jack nods, "But that Chevy Ianto's under will go off like a bomb."

Lucy sinks back in shock, as Jack reels.

The fire spreads through Stedman like lava from hell - houses ignite, an SUV parked on the street burns away – two people, hidden up till now, run out from a blazing house, screaming, their clothes singed, running toward the Utilidor for their last chance at safety -When a pack of vampires lunges from the roof of a building, landing on the survivors and feeding.

Gail, wrapped inside Ianto's parka, looks to him "What happens when you die?"

"We're not gonna die, Gail, we just have to wait a little longer" Ianto shivers as he holds her tighter.

Gail is not so sure "It feels warmer"

Ianto is concerned "Stay awake, honey"

Near the Utilidor, Alistair and his pack watch in satisfaction as the inferno steadily approaches, a few blocks away. The smoke curls and billows forward through the streets.

Jack watches, sweating, as the fire creeps through the town "If he runs, the bastards get him - if he stays put, he'll burn"

Stephen, pale and honest, stands at his side "you try to reach him, won't they go after all of us?"

Jack leans against the door in pain - knowing he can't sacrifice everyone else, but unable to give up Ianto -Jack breathes harder and harder - thoughts churning "Oh God (looks about) Oh dear God"

A change comes over Jack's face as he stares at Owen who slumps and then nods - he sees what to do, but he's overwhelmed by the gravity of the step he's about to take -Then he bolts for the stairs as Stephen watches, baffled.

The oozing, raging inferno creeps closer to the Chevy where Ianto and Gail wait. Carrying a first aid kit, Jack fishes out a syringe - kneels beside Billy's corpse - and sticks the syringe in its arm. He pulls the stopper, fills the syringe with blood - Stephen and the others arrive just in time to see Jack wince as he injects the blood-filled syringe into his own arm. Lucy gasps as the empty syringe falls to the floor.

"While they're watching me, get on the walkie-talkie, tell Ianto and Gail to run for it" Jack demands.

Jack collapses as though he's starting withdrawal from drugs. Stephen wails "What did you do?!"

"You can't!" Lucy sobs.

Jack hisses through his teeth "Carter and Billy changed - they were only bitten. They managed to hold onto who they were for a while"

Lucy turns, unable to watch what's happening to Jack as he shouts at them "We can't fight them off - the way we are"

Sweat cascades across Jack's brow as he shudders, his breath thickening - as sweat beads across his face, places a hand on Stephen's shoulder, it's getting harder to talk "thanks - little grandson - take care of Ianto"

Then he reels back as another wave of agony shatters through him; Denise gasps as Jack's pupils widen and darken out his entire eye and she whimpers "he's one of them"

Jack's lips pull back in a rictus of pain - his gums have started to recede, making his teeth look unsettlingly feral.

"How do we know he won't attack US?" Denis whispers with reluctant fear "Maybe we should stop him now"

"SHUT UP - SHUT UP - YOU TOUCH HIM AND YOU CAN KILL ME, TOO" Stephen screams as he swings to face them, placing himself between them and Jack and Owen.

Jack is not sure he can endure the pain.

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Alistair looks to the sky - behind the black smoke, it looks just a shade brighter. Ianto carves a peephole in the snow - and through it rushes black oily smoke. He and Gail start to choke.

A pallid Jack, his voice now deathly hoarse, looks up to Stephen, Gail, Lucy and Denise as Owen moves back "I can smell your blood."

He rises, struggling with temptation, warning them away with his eyes -As he heads for the corridor that leads to the outside.

"You can't beat them all, Jack" Owen says sadly.

Jack knows it. Stephen reads Jack's plan in his eyes "He's just holding them till Ianto and Gail can make it inside"

Jack smiles grimly "If I can."

Smoke floods the air - down the road, the town is in full blaze. Suddenly the door kicks open - and Jack emerges, fighting for balance, unaccustomed to his new senses, squinting through the smoke, face torn with pain and mission -Like the vampires, Jack's breath does not billow in the cold, but he's wrapped up in winter gear so that no one notices -Jack works for his bearings - then trudges directly toward Alistair, the crunch of his steps in the ice making Alistair turn. Alistair recognizes Jack, hissing vindictively "The one who fights."

Jack nods - the angry bond between himself and Alistair clear. He keeps walking steadily toward Alistair. The other vampires circle, but Alistair cautions them back with a wave of his arm - he doesn't need, doesn't want any help for dealing with Jack. No, this will be a pleasure. Jack lurches toward the other vampires for a moment - they watch, uncertain what the hell he has in mind -Then he resumes trudging toward Alistair, as Alistair shakes his head, nearly pitying how far gone Jack appears to be.

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"Ianto, it's Stephen - get out of there now, run, run!"

Ianto and Gail don't need to be told twice - they push their way through their smoky coffin seeing the oily miasma pouring toward them, Ianto and Gail stumble out, yearning for safety, legs shaky from a day's worth of cold and inaction.

Jack pushes forward, knowing any moment might be his last -Finally he's nearly two yards away from Alistair - and suddenly he reaches for Alistair, trying to grab at him with surprising speed. But Alistair backhands him into the ice -Jack struggles to his feet, throws a fist at Alistair - who catches the fist and throws Jack back -Jack lunges again for Alistair, knocking him down for a moment -Then Alistair, snarling, hurls himself at Jack, ripping at him again and again, tearing his parka loose, battering his face and body mercilessly -Jack desperately crawls, trying to get his feet under him -Until Alistair pulls him by his hair and whips him bitterly, face up, against the ice -Jack gasps for breath, fighting to suck in some strength - his mouth is bloody, and the blood makes the ice slicker as they fight -Zurial and the other vampires watch intently - impressed by Jack's ability to survive against Alistair even this long.

Ianto stops with Gail, seeing through the smoke that in the crowd ahead, his husband is fighting for all their lives.

Alistair reaches down and encircles Jack's left hand in his own claw like fingers – he squeezes and squeezes until we hear snapping of bones- Jack fights not to feel the pain, but his vision is blurring, it's hard to see how much longer he can last -He glances to the night sky above.

Zurial and the other vampires look to the sky warily, tensing at the knowledge that the night is almost gone - realizing they face a decision -Alistair circles Jack, gloating in triumph -Jack summons up his strength and butts his head into Alistair, knocking him onto the ice -Insulted, Alistair spits ferrally and regains his haunches, like a wolf who will not give up his prey -Jack wobbles for a moment on the ice, but determines to keep the momentum on his side. With brutal drive he bolts toward Alistair, his left arm hanging limply with its fingers now broken, ready to strike another blow.

Owen, Stephen, Denise and Lucy watch in dread, helpless if Jack fails.

The permafrost cracks as Alistair dodges Jack and whacks him into the unforgiving ground again and again. It's a savage onslaught that makes Jack's very skull seem to shake from the impact -Jack knows he needs a moment to recoup - he tries to crawl away to gain a breather -But Alistair drags him back mercilessly as the smoke whirls around them, Jack's face lacerating against the ice -Then he grabs Jack's throat with one hand, lifting him up from the frozen ground with a sadistic smile -Alistair hurls Jack to the ground – kicks his face, and then towers over Jack.

From the town a handful of tattered, drained survivors, driven north by the smoke and fire, emerge to watch in awe, struggling to understand what is happening - the gaunt veterans of thirty days of night, mute witnesses to this battle that will decide their fates, joining a transfixed Ianto and Gail on the ice.

Jack struggles to remain conscious, searching about until he sees Ianto's face, his heart breaking, his eyes filled with both hope and grief. He takes it all in. Alistair follows Jack's gaze, seeing Ianto as well. With a cruel smile, he drops Jack, stalking toward Ianto, ready to rob Jack of his companion even as Jack ruined Alistair's toy -Jack, seeing Alistair heading for Ianto, wrenches himself off the ice and hurls himself at Alistair -They tumble together, a small chaos of fury and bloodlust - as Alistair emerges on top, ready to finish Jack off -Alistair bares his fangs - this last kill will be so very satisfying -Jack's eyes are nearly swollen shut - his face is a mass of welts and agony –but then Jack forces his eyes wide, staring up at his enemy- AND HIS DEATH-BLACK PUPILS MATCH THOSE OF ALISTAIR -Alistair hesitates for a nanosecond, confused - Jack, facing his last, does the thing he didn't think he could do - he reaches into his depths and pulls up the ferocity and strength of a wildcat -Reaching up, he takes hold of Alistair's jaw with his wounded hand, and in a berserker rage, SLAMS HIS GOOD HAND ALL THE WAY INTO ALISTAIR'S MOUTH -The vampires gape in awe at the sound of ripping flesh -And Alistair's head lands on the ice in a rush of red pain and shock, still not realizing he's lost. His eyes close - he is gone.

Jack stares, blinking, astonished by it all, unable to comprehend for a moment that he's won. Slowly he pulls himself to his knees -Zurial looks grimly to the sky - two other vampires take a step back, retreating as their night runs out -The survivors at the pump house breathe in deeply, unable to contain their swelling hop. Ianto however, sees there's something far worse to learn yet - he runs to Jack, kneeling beside him on the ice "What did you do to yourself?"

Jack stares at him "What I had to."

Ianto embraces him desperately - overwhelmed by his sacrifice. He fights his way to his feet, looking at Alistair's blood on his hands. He needs it - the blood would taste so very good. But he can't bring himself to go there -Clenching his jaw, he looks around – the vampires are all gone "Should I go after them?"

"They won't come back." Ianto assures him sadly. "Oh Jack, what if you can't come back from this one? You … oh Jack."

Gail looks about, lost and overwhelmed -Seeing Gail, Jack looks to Ianto in silent, sacred agreement. Ianto takes Jack's meaning and nods, kneeling to Gail "Come here, sweetheart"

Ianto folds a grateful Gail in his arms, then reaches out to include Stephen as well - his new family.

"It's almost dawn." Stephen whispers "We made it."

Ianto looks up to the skies, apprehensive "Jack - the dawn"

Jack nods; he understands full well what's coming with the dawn. Ianto holds onto Gail and Stephen for balance, weak as he realizes the full extent of Jack's transformation -Owen turns to the survivors "The firehouse - let's start the hydrants, see what we can save"

Lucy and Stephen join the other survivors as Owen distracts them, moving to recapture their town. Ianto rises from Gail's side to caress Jack's cheek, his face wet with tears "You could hide - we could find blood for you"

Jack smiles honestly, no self-pity "Ianto. It's getting hard to fight - I'm forgetting everything but the pain. There's just one place for me to go"

He turns, wishing to spare Ianto what is to come but Ianto replies "I'm coming - I won't run again"

Jack, heartened by knowing Ianto's standing by him smiles and reached out a bloody hand.

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In the distance, the smoke curls up slowly now from Stedman - the flames have subsided. Much of the town is charred, but there is still a town worth reclaiming. Jack and Ianto sit together as the sun edges over the distant icy horizon. Jack, his skin a landscape of agony, shivers while Ianto grasps his hands with both hands. Ianto works to contain his fears as Jack winces, not sure he can endure the pain any longer "Baby"

"I'm here. I'm here with you."

"Listen - listen to me"

Time is slipping away "Yes - I'm here, I'm listening"

"I could live forever - but I don't want to breathe another second - if I can't remember what it feels like to love you. If this is my final death, I am glad it was for the same reason as my first one. Love" Fighting back tears because they can't risk missing a moment together, their eyes lock. Everything they've ever said to each other, everything they've never said and should have, it all passes between them.

Ianto fumbles with the locket, opening it to show Jack and Jack looks down with wonder at the cause of their arguments and Ianto's eventual escape. He looks into his own eyes as the little face looks back.

"I named him Jackson. Get it? Jack's son?" Ianto snorts "He is already a little shit, like his Daddy."

"You …. You kept him" Jack feels something tight in his chest ease, the lightness begin as he realises UNIT let Ianto have their child, not abort it like he had thought.

Jack winces, gasps in pain -Ianto throws his arms around him for dear life -Jack's skin finishes charring black as Ianto holds him - within moments he is dead.

Ianto waits.

The ashes blow in the breeze, the remains in his arms seeming to crumble and left behind if a slumbering Jack, naked as a jay-bird still clutching the locket in his now pristine hands.

Jack opens his eyes.

Blue.

"Hey there Tiger"

THE END


	15. Chapter 15

EPILOGUE – Since you are all soooo demanding!

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It was taking longer than they liked, Owen standing toe to toe with the medics while Ianto slips from the room, leaving Jack and the others to the barrage of tests.

Although the official line would be the oil spill, UNIT and Torchwood knew the truth and after all that has happened they wanted to make sure there was no contagion. Of course … the sticking point was Jack. Refusing anything that might give away DNA and it is while he is on the phone to Her Majesty,getting the only person on the face of the planet capable of calling off the dogs to comply that Ianto sees his chance.

Jack finally ends the call and sits back to wait for the shit storm. Gwen and Tosh have arrived and Owen is enjoying Tosh's soft fussing. It is the sound of a soft coo that stops the room dead and Jack is on his feet watching as Ianto slides back into the room with Jackson in his arms.

"Oh my god" Owen whispers "He kept him."

Gwen is confused, looking at Tosh who shares her confusion. Ianto knew it was unfair to be kept in the dark so he smiles "Gwen? Toshiko? This is my son. The reason Jack and I fought and eventually I ran away like a coward. I was with child. A mistake …a….slip. I thought my only way out was to hide. I really thought UNIT would take him, terminate it but … instead I was lucky enough to get a kind man on my side who was a bit of a Rock Star if ya know what I mean."

Jack isn't listening, his focus on the little boy now in his arms, those striking blue eyes boring into him a Jackson takes him in.

"The Doctor" Tosh whispers.

"Yeah. He … helped." Ianto shrugs, showing he is uncomfortable with the line of questioning and they drop it to watch the man who is slowly dancing around the room singing to the little lad who is starting to grin, his little cheeks dimpling in an adorable way.

"He has Jack's chin" Gwen whispers.

"His temper too, should see me late with the bottle" Ianto replies with pride.

Stephen walks over to look and he sighs softly, "Look at that. His cheeks dimple like Mum's did."

"Gets that from my Mum" Jack says proudly, "My mother has so pretty, like your mum. Look at this little man …. Gods. Ianto, he is lovely."

"Well … he is a Harkness" Ianto snorted. "It's his middle name so others wouldn't know … wouldn't use him as a pawn."

"Jackson Harkness Jones" Jack repeated, "I like that."

"So … worth fighting for?" Ianto asks.

"Worth dying for" Jack agrees, now looking over at the little girl slumped on a chair. "All of our kids are."

"Instant family" Ianto looks around the room, "Look at this. I am just getting used to being a Tad and I suddenly have two more. Not that I mind … I couldn't ask for a better big brother and sister for Jackson."

Stephen and Gail look at him with raw hope as he smiles back, "Come on. Let's blow this popsicle stand, I've had enough ice to last me a lifetime. I want a warm fire and some hot food!"

"And me?"

Ianto looks back over his shoulder at the man standing there with a look of fear.

"Always Cariad. I need never fear the dark again, not with you beside me" Ianto assures him and they breeze through the startled security as everyone steps back to allow their exit, Her Majesty's call obviously a terse one.

They step out into the warm sunshine and everyone raises a hand to shield their eyes.

It was grand!

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Now that is the end OK? Stop it!


End file.
